Federal Minister for Science and Technology Fawad Chaudhry on Wednesday expressed his disappointment at some “elected represen
tatives and ministers’ opposition” to the Child Marriage Restraint (Amendment) Bill, 2018, in the National Assembly, terming it a “scary moment” for society.
“What hopes can one really attribute to a society whose fifty elected represen
tatives and even ministers actually voted for underage marriage?” he tweeted.
The lawmakers who opposed the bill also included those from the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), most prominent of whom were Re
ligious Affairs Minister Noorul Haq Qadri and State Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Ali Mohamma
d Khan.
Chaudhry, in his tweet, rued that elected represen
tatives had voted in favour of child marriage, adding that the fact alone “should be enough to give sleepless nights to the world and intelligentsia of our own”.
He had also tweeted in favour of the bill, when journalist Hamid Mir pointed out that even though the bill
was tabled by a lawmaker belonging to the PTI, it was opposed by some other ruling party members. “Unless we dec
ide whether this country is to be governed by mullahs or rationality, we should forget even the idea of progress,” he stated.
.jpg)
