Pak approves Hindu Marriage Bill

Five special invitees attend debate
• Five Hindu lawmakers were specially invited for deliberations as the National Assembly Standing Committee on Law and Justice passed the final draft of the Hindu Marriage Bill 2015
• The panel made two amendments to fix the minimum age of the marrying male and female at 18 and making the law applicable to the whole country

A parliamentary panel in Pakistan has cleared the Hindu Marriage Bill 2015, paving the way for regulations on registration of marriage and divorce for the Hindu minority community.
The National Assembly Standing Committee on Law and Justice passed the final draft of the Bill.
Though the delaying tactics continued almost to the last, the committee adopted the Bill unanimously after making two amendments to fix the minimum age of the marrying male and female at 18 and making the law applicable to the whole country, Dawn news reported.
The Bill will now be tabled in the National Assembly where it has fair chances of being passed as the ruling Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) party is supporting it.
Committee Chairman Chaudhry Mahmood Bashir Virk expressed regret over the long-drawn tactical delay in framing family law for the Hindu community. Virk and ruling PML-N lawmaker Dr Ramesh Kumar Vankwani had been pushing for approving the Bill but members of other parliamentary parties persisted with raising objections.
After the 18th Amendment, issues relating to religious minorities and their family matters became provincial subjects. Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have passed the requisite resolutions, but the Sindh and Punjab Assemblies have not yet done so.