ISLAMABAD: The National Commission on the Status of Women (NCSW) has welcomed the passage of the Child Marriage Restraint Bill 2025 by the Balochistan Assembly, terming it a vital and long-awaited milestone for child protection, women’s rights, and gender equality in Pakistan.
Chairperson NCSW, Ms. Ume Laila Azhar, said that this achievement reflects the outcomes of NCSW’s extensive nationwide consultations, during which political leaders, bureaucrats, religious scholars, civil society organisations, and members of the judiciary unanimously recognised the need to set 18 years as the minimum legal age of marriage. She added that religious scholars and the Council of Islamic Ideology have also acknowledged that setting 18 as the benchmark is reasonable and in the best interest of children, reinforcing that safeguarding children is a collective national responsibility.
“This law goes beyond preventing early marriages — it is about protecting the mental, physical, and emotional development of future generations,” Ms. Azhar emphasised. “It is about ensuring that our children grow healthier, learn better, and lead empowered lives.”
NCSW has now called upon the Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa governments to urgently proceed with approving their respective Child Marriage Restraint Bills, noting that Sindh, the Islamabad Capital Territory, and now Balochistan are already aligned with the national standard of 18 years. The Commission stated that any further delay is unjustifiable and detrimental to child welfare.
Reiterating the need for uniformity across all provinces, Ms. Ume Laila Azhar said:
“Standardizing 18 as the minimum age of marriage across Pakistan is not simply a legislative commitment — it is a moral, constitutional, and humanitarian responsibility. We must ensure consistent implementation, strengthened community vigilance, and a united resolve to secure safer and brighter futures for all children.”
The NCSW reaffirmed its unwavering commitment to collaborate with national and international partners to support provincial governments in enacting, harmonizing, and enforcing strong legal protections to end child marriage and safeguard the rights of every child in Pakistan.
