In an astonishing and rare bit of unison, representatives clerics of all the sects within the country have concurred that one does not, in fact, need the approval of the second wife when contracting a second marriage.
Earlier, the clerics had ruled that the permission of the first wife was not needed for second marriage, which was taken up by the Islamabad High Court.
“We thought that the IHC verdict, which had stated that the consent of the Arbitration Council was still mandatory for a second marriage, regardless of the consent of the first wife,” said Maleeha Hassan, a lawyer and activist at the Women’s Collective Action Program. “Who would have thought the clerics would double down on their stance?”
Meanwhile, a state of emergency has been declared by the National Disaster Management Authority. “We would urge the nation’s women to refrain even from essential movement outside their residences till we manage to reverse this situation,” said NDMA Chairman Lt Gen Muhammad Afzal.
