Six Months Old Girl Married Off In Pakistan

A 6 months old (yes, 6 months, not even 6 years) girl has been married off to a 25 years old man in Pakistan. Terribly shocking, right? But it is true.

Well, the background of the story is this –

A married man named Alamzeb (a resident of the from the Reri Goth area in Karachi) abducted the daughter of his neighbour Naseer, and fled away. Reportedly, the abduction took place with the girl’s consent, as the two were in love with each other.

However, the girl’s family took the matter as a prestige issue, and started threatening the family of Alamzeb. Ultimately the matter reached such a level that the local community elders held a “Jirga” (sort of a council) to resolve the issue.

And then the “Jirga” came up with a “great” solution. What was the solution? Well, they said that the 6 months old daughter of Alamzeb should be married off to 25 years old Haq Nawaz, the brother of the girl whom Alamzeb abducted. The “Jirga” gave this ruling on the basis of “Swara”.

And what the hell is “Swara”? Well, it is a child marriage custom practiced in the tribal areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan. This custom is used to resolve blood feuds among families, tribes and clans, wherein young girls are forcibly married off to the members of various other clans.

It is incidents like these which remind us that in some parts of this world the time is still stuck in the 18th century.

Source: http://news.oneindia.in/2010/05/31/6month-baby-girl-married-to-25-yr-old-man-in-pakistan-tose.html