‘Hindu marital law soon to become a reality’:Bashir Mahmood Virk

Lahore: “The Federal government will no more wait for provinces on the Hindu marriage bill as it has already been too late,” announced Chaudhry Bashir Mahmood Virk, Chairman of the Standing Committee on Law, Justice and Human Rights here in Islamabad on Wednesday.

Virk said this while addressing the National Conference on the Hindu Marriage Bill which is being attended by more than 250 Hindu leaders, among many other representatives of other minority communities in Pakistan. “The bill is waiting to see the light for the last three years. Last year we sent several letters and requests to provincial assemblies to pass resolutions to extend this law to their provinces otherwise, it will be limited to the federal capital,” Virk said.

“Ideally there should be one civil marriage law but that is a far reality. I tell my Muslim fellows that love Hindus and Christians as they are the most loyal people. For me anyone who is loyal to Pakistan is my brother and sister irrespective of their religion.”

Assemblies of Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have already passed resolutions accepting the federal law for their provinces. The Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting with the portfolio of Minister Law, Justice and Human Rights tabled the Hindu Marriage Bill 2015 in the Parliament but it was deferred for a month in July last year.  However, there has been no development on the issue since.

Also addressing the conference, Punjab parliamentarian and lawyer by profession, Mary Gill reiterated, “There should be a unified marriage law for Hindus across Pakistan and the Punjab Assembly will pass a resolution in the upcoming session so that the federal law could be extended to the Punjab province.”

“Our leadership is very clear on passing of the Hindu Marriage no matter what the case. It is committed to the welfare and security of religious minorities and also ensures that their personal laws are updated,” said Mary Gill.

Jai Parkash Moorani, President Hyderabad Press Club, expressed that with the passing of this law the minorities would also be recognized as equal citizens of Pakistan as the Constitution guarantees. He said the absence of personal laws for Hindus gave the impression that the community was not treated as equal citizens by the State.

Krishan Sharma , the chairman of the Rights of Expression, Assembly, Association and Thought (REAT) Network further added, “The Hindu community has suffered because of the absence of persons laws in several ways; if a married Hindu woman is abducted and forcibly married then her family has no means to prove her marriage.”

1. Parkash Mahtani, an advocate of human rights, said that Sindh assembly must pass a resolution in this direction so that the federal law could be extended to the Sindh province as well.
2. The National Lobbying Delegation (NLD) for Minority Rights is a one-of-its-kind initiative launched by Community World Service Asia in 2012 to improve democratization and governance in order to secure the democratic rights of non-Muslims in Pakistan. The NLD members are well connected to marginalized communities at the grassroots level, but also to the policy formulators. 

   In 2012, the NLD consisted of ten members; the number has since increased to 24. In 2013, the delegation took on a role of bridging the gap between reserved seat non-Muslim parliamentarians and their communities. The NLD members also identified the main issues of religious minorities through consultative processes and found that they were most affected by a lack of legislation for marriages of non-Muslims, ineffective implementation of the job quota, and hindrances in registration for computerized national identity cards (CNICs). Through this conference, the NLD members want that the Hindu Marriage Bill must now be.