Recently, a diagnostic study in Punjab found out that 60% of the nikahnamas recorded between 2016 and 2022 are incomplete.
Who conducted the study:
Concerned about the high percentage, the National Commission for Human Rights (NCHR) and Musawi, an independent research organisation, discussed the study’s findings at an interprovincial working group meeting on defending women’s marriage rights.
The findings:
The survey found that in 48% of all nikah contracts, of which 75% had brides marked between the ages of 16 and 18, the bride’s CNIC number was absent. Only 8% of nikahnamas mentioned the right to a monthly allowance, and 39% had the documentation field for haq maher scratched off or empty.
Additionally, just 24% of nikah contracts specified the day the nikahnama was registered, and only 6% of nikah contracts mentioned the bride’s age. Additionally, 51% of nikah contracts did not include any additional conditions.
In order to share best practices and promote cross-learning from various provincial legal frameworks, CEO Musawi Fatima Yasmin Bokhari emphasised the necessity to establish multi-stakeholder collaboration for marriage rights advocacy on an inter-provincial platform.
Nadeem Ashraf, a member of NCHR Punjab, shared his vision for systemic change and the potential for an unified policy addressing marriage rights between all provinces and ICT to assure the mutual benefit of each province with current and proposed regulations.
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