The Civil Society has urged MNA Maulana Salahuddin Ayubi to resign from his post after he tied the knot with a 14-year-old girl in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Salahuddin Ayubi, as a leader of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI-F), was elected to National Assembly from constituency NA-263 (Kila Abdullah).

According to the details, MNA Maulana Salahuddin Ayubi had illegally married the 14-year-old girl in Chitral, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Expressing disappointment over Ayubi’s act, the members of Pakhtunkhwa Civil Society Network (PCSN) demanded resignation from MNA.

It should be mentioned here that the 14-year-old girl was born on Oct 28, 2006, and was a student of Government Girls High School, Jughoor.

In Pakistan, the legal age for marriage for girls is 16, whereas, an 18-year-old girl in Sindh is eligible for marriage. In the world, Pakistan stands in the sixth position of absolute child brides in the world (1.9 million). The child marriage rate in the country is more than 21% of girls as many of them are married before turning 18 and 3% before they get 15-year-old.

As per the details, Sindh has the highest rate of child marriages(33%), followed by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (29%), Balochistan (22%), and Punjab (20%).

The country could save $77 million by 2030 or can increase the $6229 million raise in earnings and productivity only by ending Child and Early Age Marriage (CEAM).

Coordinator Pakhtunkhwa Civil Society Network (PCSN), Taimur Kamal, said,

“MNA Salahuddin Ayubi should immediately resign as he has violated the Child Marriage Restraint Act 1929 according to which no girl below the age of 16 can be legally married in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa or elsewhere in Pakistan”

“Girls are being bought like heads of cattle in the name of marriage and smuggled out of Chitral without inviting any attention,” said Coordinator of the Child Rights Movement (CRM) Sana Ahmad.
“This is a modern shape of human trafficking. Girls are bought and transported out of Chitral by organized gangs. Oftentimes wealthy people come to Chitral looking for a second wife. No one cares about these poor girls afterward,” she added.

A child rights activist, Imran Takkar, said,

“We need very clear strategies to end child marriages long-term strategies, short-term, and medium-term strategies. We need to talk about the problem rooted in our culture. We cannot solve it in one, two, or five years. We need policies. We need legislation.”

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