An Analysis of Family Laws of Religious Minorities in Pakistan (original) (raw)

2021, Pakistan Journal of International Affairs

It is famously narrated that Pakistan came into being as a state for the Muslim minority of India. Nevertheless, Pakistan was also the homeland of many other religious natives such as Christian, Sikhs, Hindus, Parsis, Buddhists. Even many Jews lived in Pakistan who were the natives of this land for centuries before the partition of 1947. All of these religions are completely different from each other and also have their rituals, traditions, language, caste system, creed, ethnicity, marriage, and divorce laws. All of Pakistan’s constitutions give minorities equal rights, but when in the 1960s, Pakistan developed its first family laws for Muslims and launched “Nikah Nama”, and made other rules and regulations for the majority of its population but forgot about its minorities. Pakistan’s minorities suffer under Anglo Hindu Laws and The Christian Marriage Act of 1872 until recently. Pakistan introduced The Sindh Hindus Marriage Act 2016, the Hindu Marriage Act of 2017 Passed by the Nati...