ISLAMABAD: President Asif Ali Zardari has stated that all minorities in Pakistan are equal citizens with similar rights, highlighting the necessity of increasing their employment quota in all positions held by the government.
According to a press release from the President’s Secretariat Press Wing on Tuesday, President Zardari made these remarks during a special ceremony at Aiwan-e-Sadr after he signed the Christian Marriage (Amendment) Act 2024 into law, raising the marriageable age for Christian men and women to eighteen years.
The president announced that he would write to the government about raising the employment quota for minorities in all federal jobs.
He emphasized that all minorities in Pakistan had equal rights and that some should not let this discourage them.The Christian Marriage (Amendment) Act 2024 was approved by the president in accordance with Article 75 of the Constitution. Section 60 of the Christian Marriage Act of 1872 is amended by this act.
Before, Christian men and women who wanted to get married had to be 16 or 13 years old, respectively.
Senior government officials, members of the Christian community, and Chaudhry Salik Hussain, the Federal Minister for Religious Affairs and Inter-Faith Harmony (MORA) Secretary, were present at the ceremony.
Speaking on the occasion, Bishop Abraham Daniel thanked the President for signing the Act into law, stating that the Christian community had long demanded that the age of marriage for men and women be raised.
