ISLAMABAD: The outgoing Senate, Monday, passed seven bills—all private—including the Christian Marriage (Amendment) Bill 2023— that increases the minimum marriage age limit for members of Christian faith from 16 to 18 years.
Kamran Michael presented the bill in the Senate session, which was passed by the house.
This bill seeks amendment in Section 60 of the Christian Marriage Act 1872 to increase the marriage age limit for members of Christian faith from 16 to 18 years.
“It is the function of the state to protect the inviolable dignity of children as their basic human rights and to protect children being married before age of maturity as their basic rights to education and other ancillary rights would otherwise be infringed.
The main purpose of this enactment is to protect children from being sexually abused and to secure children their basic fundamental rights as enshrined in the Constitution of Pakistan of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan and the marriageable age in the other laws prevailing in the country,” reads the statement of objects and reasons of this bill.
Apart from that, five new bills were moved in the house and referred to relevant standing committees.
Meanwhile, Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) Senator Mushtaq Ahmad Khan cited a World Bank report in the Senate, which, he said, revealed that Pakistan’s state-owned entities were gobbling 458 billion rupees of the public.
“The World Bank report unearths that Pakistan’s government-run institutions are worst in terms of their performance,” he said on the floor of the house.
Those government institutions that are performing poorly should be privatised in a transparent manner, he opined.
Caretaker Information Minister Murtaza Solangi informed the house that overall loss of more than 200 State Owned Enterprises (SOEs) was Rs 730 billion. These SOEs also earned Rs 570 billion rupees, making the net loss of SOEs being estimated around Rs 160 billion, he said.
The caretaker minister said the loss-making SOEs include the government entities in power sector, Pakistan Steel Mills, National Highway Authority, Pakistan International Airlines, Pakistan Railways among others.
The house was adjourned till today (Tuesday).
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024