Federal Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry on Wednesday said that he was disappointed by the opposition that some elected representatives and ministers had posed to the Child Marriage Restraint (Amendment) Bill, 2018 in the National Assembly, terming it a “scary moment”.
“What hopes can one really attribute to a society whose fifty elected representatives and even ministers actually voted for underage marriage?” he tweeted.
What hopes can one really attribute to a society whose fifty elected representatives and even ministers actually voted for under age marriage? Should be enough to give sleepless nights to the World and intelligentia of our own… really a scary moment
— Ch Fawad Hussain (@fawadchaudhry) May 1, 2019
It is pertinent to mention here that even though the bill was tabled by Dr Ramesh Kumar Vankwani of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), the most prominent ministers who resisted the bill were from the same party and hold important positions in the current government. Two of whom include Religious Affairs Minister Noorul Haq Qadri and State Minister for Parliamentary Affairs, Ali Mohammad Khan.
Chaudhry pointed out that the rule of such mindsets should be enough to give the country sleepless nights.
He had also tweeted in favour of the bill yesterday, when journalist Hamid Mir pointed out that even though the bill was tabled by an MNA of PTI, it was opposed by the ruling party’s members, and said: “Unless we decide whether this country is to be governed by mullahs or rationality, we should forget even the idea of progress.”
کم عمر کی شادی کے خلاف سب سے پہلی قانون سازی قائد اعظم نے پیش کی، جب تک پاکستان میں یہ فیصلہ نہ ہو کہ ملا نے راج کرنا ہےیا شعور نے ،ترقی کا خیال بھی بھول جائیں، ایک تماشہ لگا ہوا ہے ایسی ایسی جاھلانہ بات ہوتی ہے کہ عقل دنگ رہ جاتی ہے،ملک اور قومیں ایسے ماحول میں ترقی نہیں کرتیں https://t.co/LpabcefaGu
— Ch Fawad Hussain (@fawadchaudhry) April 30, 2019
The bill had been unanimously endorsed by the Senate Standing Committee on Human Rights and was tabled in the Senate by PPP Senator Sherry Rehman on Monday.
