PAKISTAN

Pakistan's Child Marriage Restraint Act 1929 sets the legal ages of marriage at 16 for girls and 18 for men. Sexual intercourse with a child below the age of 16 is classified as rape, including between a married girl below the age of 16 and her husband. Efforts to raise the age of marriage for girls have failed at the national level. However, Pakistan's family laws are devolved to each of its provinces and territories. Sindh province is the only province so far which has succeeded in creating specific legislation to raise the age of marriage to 18 for both women and men. In the absence of provincial law, the national law applies.

There have been a handful of child marriage cases which have set legal precedents in several jurisdictions.

In 2021, the Federal Shariat Court passed a landmark judgement stating that it was not against Islam to set a minimum marriage age for both girls and boys. This was in response to a petition which tried to eradicate the minimum ages for marriage altogether, on the basis of the hadith which suggests the Prophet Muhammed married one of his wives at the age of 6, and consummated the marriage when she was 9. It is important to note that the Federal Shariat Court has also never ruled that there should be a differential in age between men and women, although this differential persists in Pakistan's national law.

In 2022, the Islamabad High Court held that marriage of children under the age of 18 is unlawful and the marriage contract is void ab initio, in Mumtaz Bibi vs Qasim. However, this is applicable only to the Islamabad Capital Territory.

In 2024, the Christian Marriage Act raised the minimum age of marriage to 18 for both men and women; previously this had been 13 for girls and 16 for boys. There are approximately 3 million Christians in Pakistan, or 1.3% of the population.

Also in 2024, in Azka Wahid vs Province of Punjab, the Lahore High Court declared the distinction in the minimum age of marriage in the Punjab Child Marriage Restraint Act (16 for girls and 18 for men) as unconstitutional and directed the government of Punjab to amend the law accordingly.

Both Balochistan and Kyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces have also tried to raise the minimum age of marriage to 18 for both men and women.