‘Child Marriages: 10 Year-Old Girls Traded for Rs. 100,000 [Approximately $1,150]’
Because Mohammed, profit of Islam, married Aisha when she was six and consummated the marriage when she was nine. Because Mohammed was the perfect man who gave his followers a beautiful pattern of conduct, to be emulated by all the believers, for all time.
On November 29, 2010, police officials in the Pakistani town of Sheikhupura raided a wedding hall and arrested the bridegroom and wedding guests as the marriage of a six year-old girl, Uzma, was being performed. Bilal Zafar, a local police officer, confirmed the arrest of Maulvi Ghaus, the cleric who was performing the marriage, as well as the 23 year-old bridegroom. Zafar stated, “we received a tip-off about the marriage but it took us a while to find the place as the wedding was being conducted in secret.”
The incident drew an angry response from a newspaper reader, who wrote: “Surely this is a sign of pedophilia; how else does one justify a man in his 20s marrying a girl who is just six years-old? Why are we as a society so tolerant of such barbaric and medieval practices?” It seems that a large number of child marriages are taking place in Pakistan, especially in the rural areas of Sindh province, though only a few such cases are actually reported by the Pakistani media.
