In a landmark development, the Sikh Marriage Bill will be presented in the Punjab Assembly today (Tuesday).
PML-N MPA and first Sikh member in the Punjab Assembly Ramesh Singh Arora said he would present the private member bill in the assembly on Tuesday on private members day. He said he has been working relentlessly to have a Sikh Marriage Act for four years and now his efforts would bear fruit.
He said he would be thankful to his colleagues who would help him to pass this bill. He claimed that Pakistan would become the first country in the world to present the bill in the assembly. “No other country in the world has ever passed the Sikh Marriage Act.
The Punjab Assembly will take lead in the world by passing the bill,” he said while talking to Pakistan Today. He further added that the bill would be referred to standing committee after being presented in the assembly. After the debate of the parliamentarians in the standing committee, the bill would be passed. “The Sikh Marriage Act is not enacted in any other country of the world including India where the Sikh population is high.”
Arora hoped that the opposition and treasury benches would unanimously pass the bill. Talking about the significance of the bill, he said the Sikh community would have a personal law for the first time for registration of their marriages. “Till date, the marriages of the Sikh community have religious status but they do not have the legal status. After the passage of the act, the Sikh community will be able to enjoy rights at par with the Muslim community in Pakistan.”
“Even the Sikhs will continue to enjoy benefits of marriage registration outside Pakistan since they will be having proper marriage certificate. They will be able to get their marriages registered in the union council concerned”.
Arora further elaborated, “The children of the Sikh community have no legal status right now due to absence of the Sikh Marriage Act and they face a lot of problems due to that. They will get legal status after the act. The Sikh will be able to get documentary proof of their marriage”.
The Sikh community has expressed pleasure over the bill. A Sikh Dev Sigh said he was happy that the Sikh community is getting rights. “We will be having our own personal law for the registration of marriages. “We face a lot of problems when we go abroad for lacking documentary evidence of our marriage.”
