In Pakistan, 97 percent of marriages take place to attain foreign nationality

Islamabad, Aug.22 (ANI): A survey conducted in Pakistan on the issue of forced marriages among male dual nationals, reveals that only 3.4 per cent children are consulted before marriage whereas 96.6 per cent marriages take place mainly to attain foreign nationality or helping hand abroad.

The findings make part of the research report of baseline survey on the issue of forced marriages launched by SACH on Friday. The survey was conducted in collaboration with British High Commission.

The target area for the survey were Mirpur, Bhimber and Kotli where the concentration of dual nationals is considerably high and incidents of forced marriages are largely reported. The survey was conducted in order to plan an implementation strategy for intervention, prevention and awareness raising campaigns in the target areas.

Among 870 individuals interviewed during the survey, 61.9 per cent respondents were British nationals and 38.08 per cent were Pakistani nationals who visited UK many times. The study also revealed that only 7.9 per cent among dual nationals had an education up to post-gradation level and 3.6 per cent got UK based education.

The survey shows that majority of such marriages take place within family or 'baradari' with only 11 per cent marriages taking place outside the family. Only 19.9 per cent respondents strongly agreed that families and parents have the right to decide.

Majority of respondents (74.4 per cent) termed forced marriages against Islamic teachings whereas 54.1 strongly agreed to the statement that both girls and boys should be given chance to freely marry. Around 51.6 per cent believed that forced marriages may lead to torture and violence in the society and 52.8 per cent said that mostly women are forced-marriage victims as they cannot dare to oppose and they had no other option but to surrender. (ANI)