Islamabad: Despite the enactment of Hindu Marriage Act in 2017, all Pakistani’s provinces excluding Sindh have so far failed to give the country’s minority Hindu community a right to officially register their marriages, divorces and remarriages.
In 2016, the Sindh province, where majority of the country’s around eight million Hindus live, had framed the law enabling Hindu men and women above18 years of age to register their marriages. Later, it was amended to add divorce and remarriage rights for couples and financial security for the wife and kids after divorce.
The Sindh’s move had prompted the federal government in 2017 to extend the same right to Hindus living in other provinces and the federal capital territory of Islamabad. While the law was implemented in Islamabad, the provinces of Baluchistan, Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa were required to draft the rules of business for this Act.
Haroon Sarbdiyal of the national lobbying delegation for minority rights said the Hindu community in most parts have no rights to the process of registrations of their marriages, legal divorce procedure, adoption and issues related to inheritance. According to official data, there are hundreds of cases pending in the civil courts due to non-availability of rules.
