Pakistan: Sindh CM Murad Shah orders investigation into child marriages in Dadu District

Sindh: Sindh's Chief Minister Murad Ali Shah ordered an investigation into child marriages in the Dadu district, following recent media coverage highlighting the issue, reported Dawn News.
He has instructed Hyderabad's commissioner to compile a detailed report on the marriages of 45 underage girls in Khan Muhammad Mallah village. These marriages have been taking place since the last monsoon, with a notable 15 occurring in May and June of this year.
The parents of these girls have explained that they hastened their daughters' marriages, often in exchange for money, as a means to "save them from poverty." This desperate measure reflects broader socio-economic challenges faced by many families in the region.
The Chief Minister has mandated the formation of a committee to conduct a comprehensive inquiry into the situation in the village. He has requested a thorough report covering the social, economic, and legal conditions of the girls involved, aiming to address the issue holistically. , Dawn News reported.
"What is the current condition of the married girls? Submit a report covering every aspect so that the issue can be resolved," the Chief Minister directed the commissioner, according to the official statement.
Additionally, he asked the commissioner to include recommendations in the inquiry and to detail whether the married girls were from families affected by recent floods, as well as the amount of aid they had received.
Child marriages are a persistent issue in parts of Pakistan, which has the sixth-highest number of girls married before the age of 18 globally, according to government data published in December, reported by Dawn.
The legal marriage age ranges from 16 to 18 in different regions, but enforcement is often lax. UNICEF has reported "significant strides" in reducing child marriage, yet extreme weather events, such as the 2022 floods, have exacerbated the problem.
"We would expect to see an 18 per cent increase in the prevalence of child marriage, equivalent to erasing five years of progress," it stated in a report assessing the impact of the floods.