Majority of marriage bureaus in the twin cities of Islamabad and Rawalpindi reportedly use unfair tactics to extract maximum amount from the citizens, who are having problems in finding suitable matches for their children due to financial and social constraints.
Citizens demanded of the government to take a stern action against such marriage bureaus which are cheating people in order to earn money.
Ayesha Qasim, mother of a girl while commenting on this issue said, people are cheated in the name of social services and in getting a legitimate reference but these marriage bureaus only work to make money. “I paid a lot of money to the so called marriage bureaus, but till today, never got any response from them. These bureaus would always tell you that these matters take time,” she added. Another citizen, Asim Qureshi said that these bureaus approach their customers with their attractively worded and well phrased ads in different newspapers. They ask to fill out registration forms, take a large amount f money and never send any one. They don’t even bother to pick up your phone when you call them after paying money.
The so called marriage bureaus, operating in Islamabad, charge around Rs 3,000 to Rs 5,000 for local matches, Rs 5,000 to Rs 10,000 for inter-city matches and Rs 20,000 to Rs 30,000 for the matches of overseas Pakistanis. “Mostly, either middle class or overseas Pakistanis contact marriage bureaus. These ingenious matchmakers exploit such people to the hilt,” lamented a victim of a matchmaker. “I submitted Rs 5,000 registration fee with a marriage bureau and they promised to find an excellent match for my daughter. After taking the money, they even refused to recognize me. That’s quite unfair,” Mrs Mukhtar alleged. The owner claimed that fees was non-refundable and it costs them a lot to find a match, she said. “Does it really cost Rs 10,000 or plus to make some telephonic calls? We all know local call rates very well.” A matchmaker said that she only charges money by looking at the financial status of her customers. She further said that people and boys come to them asking for girls who look like Hollywood stars and models. These bureaus are being owned and run by sole owners, without any government registration.
