Petition for Full Marriage Equality in Pakistan
Petition for Full Marriage Equality in Pakistan
Why this petition matters
Dear Attorney General,
The Islamic Republic of Pakistan's legal system, which incorporates old British law and traditional Islamic law) permits consanguineous relationships and some consanguineous marriages. About 70% of marriages in Pakistan are between consanguineous couples, usually cousins. (1st and 2nd cousin marriage is permitted under Islamic law and British law, while marriage among close blood relations like parents, stepparents, parents in-law, siblings, step-siblings, the children of siblings, aunts and uncles is forbidden). However Pakistan's laws discriminate against 'consanguinamorous' people (Consenting adults in incest-oriented-CIAO relationships (those who are not cousins) by prohibiting them from marrying, even if they have children. This is unfair and harmful to both the parents and their children.
"At this time, Pakistan has no set of laws dealing with incest. What it does have is a law against rape and zina (adultery)."
https://tribune.com.pk/article/29948/pakistan-has-laws-against-rape-and-adultery-but-what-about-incest
The Right to equality is an important and meaningful right provided in Articles 25 the Pakistan constitution.
Article 25 Equality of citizens.
(1) All citizens are equal before law and are entitled to equal protection of law.
(2) There shall be no discrimination on the basis of sex 35[]
http://www.pakistani.org/pakistan/constitution/
Article 14 Inviolability of dignity of man, etc.
(1) The dignity of man and, subject to law, the privacy of home, shall be inviolable.
But where is the equality before the law for all citizens in Pakistan if CIAO ( Consensual Adult Incest Oriented ) people (who are not 1st or 2nd cousins) cannot marry and other sexual minorities can? CIAO people may have children and they too need to be equally protected by the law and have the same legal rights as everyone else to marriage and a family, which are rights guaranteed by the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights. "Egypt, Iran and Pakistan signed the UDHR in 1948."
https://blogs.lse.ac.uk/mec/2012/12/10/1569/
CIAO people and their children should not be subject to legal discrimination social stigma or institutional incestophobia and nor should they be deprived of rights that others have who are in consensual adult relationships : the right to marry, and the right to have a mother and a father who are legally married to each other.
Not all CIAO people may want to marry, but those who wish to marry should be permitted to do so. To refuse to allow them to marry is a breach of their civil rights as citizens, and their human rights as human beings and to treat them as different from other people is to discriminate against them.
Sir, as the Attorney General , will you please help to reform of Pakistan's marriage laws so that in future, all CIAO people who wish to marry will be legally permitted to do so and are no longer subjected to unfair discrimination by the state. Your help in this matter will be greatly.
Thank you very much on behalf of CIAO people everywhere today and in the future.
Yours sincerely,
Richard Morris
Decision makers
- Khalid Jawed Khan Attorney-General for Pakistan