Tawheed Jamath Protest against Minimum age of Marriage in Sri Lanka

[SarthakGanguly]

Without centuries of invasion ending with European colonialism, you would still be stuck with ancient rituals like Sati and stuff.

Not really. You need to read about Bhakti Movement. Or Advaita movement/philosophy. Reformists have come and gone for centuries. Long before the Brits came. There were reform movements including Siddhartha Gautama long before Islam came to the Indian subcontinent.

 

[Nilgiri]

Not really. You need to read about Bhakti Movement. Or Advaita movement/philosophy. Reformists have come and gone for centuries. Long before the Brits came. There were reform movements including Siddhartha Gautama long before Islam came to the Indian subcontinent.

You can keep responding till your throat has become hoarse like mine and just not care about correcting/informing anymore

 

[The_Showstopper]

Hindus are not complaining and asking for the marriage age to be reduced. Those doing it are breaking the law and not seeking to change the law in their favor. Now stay on topic if you can. In case you want to discuss disgusting child marriages in Hinduism, Christianity or Buddhism, I suggest you open a thread for the same.

But stay on topic here.

Hindus are not complaining yet their share is way higher than accepted, that speaks a lot. I guess I was discussing about Child marriages, No. Is it not the topic being discussed on this thread?

dear friend, you are not getting the point here....If also it is happening in Hindus, we all condemn it..It is a bad thing and should be stopped. It does not matter if it is my religion..But the issue is that some of the Muslims get defensive when such kind of discussion comes up....Not only child marriage, even Hindus have much bigger and hail lot of issues..But we understand, accept and admit that this wrong....We expect that in the same vein, certain basic civil rules should be accepted by every one irrespective of the religion it belongs to.

Look mate, By looking at the stats I posted, I can safely say that there are far fewer cases on child marriages among Indian muslims compared to other Indian communities(Hindus to be specific), the only thing you can complain about, is the resistance to a law forbidding child marriages among Indian muslims. Infact I believe that Prohibition of Child Marriage Act of 2006 also applies to Indian muslims. The main reason for this resistance is more to do with tinkering with muslim personal law than anything else. Many in the community has come forward and challenged those who wanted child marriage legalizing as can be noted in the below excerpt from a news article.

Though IUML leads the present move to get the minimum legal marital age scrapped, its students' and youth organizations - Muslim Students Federation and Muslim Youth League - have come out against it.

Source: http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/...-muslim-league-cpi-m-criticises/1/311284.html

You preached the choir to the wrong guy. But never mind. Let's discuss the issue at hand here.

Says the Babu B of PDF

 

[Kaniska]

Hindus are not complaining yet their share is way higher than accepted, that speaks a lot. I guess I was discussing about Child marriages, No. Is it not the topic being discussed on this thread?


Look mate, By looking at the stats I posted, I can safely say that there are far fewer cases on child marriages among Indian muslims compared to other Indian communities(Hindus to be specific), the only thing you can complain about, is the resistance to a law forbidding child marriages among Indian muslims. Infact I believe that Prohibition of Child Marriage Act of 2006 also applies to Indian muslims. The main reason for this resistance is more to do with tinkering with muslim personal law than anything else. Many in the community has come forward and challenged those who wanted child marriage legalizing as can be noted in the below excerpt from a news article.

Though IUML leads the present move to get the minimum legal marital age scrapped, its students' and youth organizations - Muslim Students Federation and Muslim Youth League - have come out against it.

Source: http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/...-muslim-league-cpi-m-criticises/1/311284.html


Says the Babu B of PDF

Makes sense. I agree with you...So in order to all of develop socially together, there is nothing wrong, to work on our social weakness and try to improve it. This is not a matter of point scoring rather matter of awareness and taking correcting actions.

 

[takeiteasy]

These people SLTJ are nothing but a bunch of extremist Perverts and Pedos using religious and racist cards to safeguard their rights to be pedophiles.

These people looks like Thulukkar. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thulukkar

 

[Gibbs]

Sri Lanka Muslim Marriage and Divorce Act reform report in final stages

Feb 07, 2017

ECONOMYNEXT - A report on changes to Sri Lanka's Muslim Marriage and Divorce Act is in its final stages, the head of the committee preparing it said.

Former Judge of the Supreme Court Justice Saleem Marsoof said views from many concerned organizations were sought and received, which had to be considered before coming up with the report.

"The Committee is now in the process of finalising its Report, and would like to announce to the general public with utmost responsibility that it is working unitedly to make its recommendations for the amendment of the Muslim Marriage and Divorce Act in such a manner that will benefit the Muslim community at large," he said in a statement.

The Committee to recommend changes to the 1951 Act was appointed in July 2009 by the former Minister of Justice and Law Reform Milinda Moragoda.

The full statement is reproduced below:

Press Release issued by former Judge of the Supreme Court Justice Saleem Marsoof PC, as the Chairman of the Committee appointed to make recommendations for the amendment of the Muslim Marriage and Divorce Act.

The Committee appointed in July 2009 by the former Minister of Justice and Law Reform Hon. Milinda Moragoda with the approval of the Cabinet of Ministers, to consider and recommend amendments to the Muslim Marriage and Divorce Act No 13 of 1951, has decided to issue this press release in response to certain concerns expressed by some members of the public, in newspaper articles and social media.

In view of the extremely sensitive nature of the issues involved, this Committee called for representations form the public through notices published in English, Tamil and Sinhalese newspapers. Apart from the very respected Quazis, theologians, lawyers, scholars, and researchers, who have sent their views and suggestions, detailed representations were also received from associations such as the Council of Muslims of Sri Lanka, the All Ceylon YMMA Conference, The Muslim Lawyers’ Association, the All Ceylon Muslim Marriage Registrars’ Association, the Quazi Judges’ Forum of Sri Lanka, the Muslim Women’s Research and Action Forum, the Kandy Forum, the Galle Muslim Cultural Association and the All Ceylon Jamiathul Ulema, to name only a few.

This Committee had to necessarily take time to examine in great depth all the views, proposals and other representations received from the public, and in order to facilitate the process, had several public sittings to clarify and verify these representations.

For this purpose, the Committee also had several consultations with the Fathwa Committee of the All Ceylon Jamiathul Ulema as well as the Director and staff of Jamiah Naleemiah. This Committee has given anxious consideration to the problems faced by the public and their many concerns, in the context of the principles of Islamic jurisprudence (Fiqh), Sri Lanka's Constitution and the applicable laws and procedures, and has attempted to evolve solutions to some serious social and legal problems and issues in harmony with the law of the country.

As you may be aware, this Committee consists of erudite personalities in the caliber of reputed scholars, renowned lawyers and other professionals, who are conscious of the need to bring about urgent and appropriate reforms to both the substantial and procedural laws constituting the Quazi Court system consistently with the principles enshrined in the Holy Quran, Hadis, Ijma and Qiyas.

http://www.economynext.com/Sri_Lank...Act_reform_report_in_final_stages-3-7259.html

The Committee is now in the process of finalising its Report, and would like to announce to the general public with utmost responsibility that it is working unitedly to make its recommendations for the amendment of the Muslim Marriage and Divorce Act in such a manner that will benefit the Muslim community at large

 

[supun1]

What do they want to be changed?

 

[Godman]

What do they want to be changed?

The government wants to remove Sharia laws Muslims have in Marriage and Divorce and put a minimum age limit to marriage to stop Child marriage among muslims. It is a major social issue as Child brides forced to give up their education and there are many other health issues. This is a major obstacle for Sri lanka's future development as well


CHILD MARRIAGES WITHIN SRI LANKAN MUSLIM COMMUNITY NEED TO BE ADDRESSED – WAN

Establishing the minimum age of marriage for all citizens is foremost a State responsibility.

Women Action Network (WAN*) welcomes and appreciates the actions of Member of Parliament (MP) Hirunika Premachandra during a workshop with parliamentarians on the formation of Constitution, held on 29th March 2016 wherein she raised the concerns that Muslim Marriage and Divorce Act (MMDA) allows for Muslim girls and boys below the age of 18 to be married. MP Hirunika’s comments come in light of the fact that under the Penal Code (Section 363) of Sri Lanka, sexual intercourse with a girl below the age of 16 (with or without her consent) amounts to statutory rape, therefore the provision of early marriages for Muslims is contradictory and requires attention in this regard. As a concerned MP, it demonstrates her apprehension about the practical and potential problems faced by the minority Muslim women and children in the country with regard to lack of minimum age of marriage.

For over two decades, these concerns have been raised at multiple forums including with religious leaders and Muslim MPs, and are usually ignored on the basis that early marriage is not happening in the Muslim community. However, Muslim women’s groups who have been working very closely at the community come across many cases of early marriage on a regular basis. High prevalence of early marriage has also been noted in districts such as Batticaloa, Puttalam and parts of Colombo. In some areas the number of early marriages have in fact increased from 2014 to 2015, and a look at the data on registration of Muslim marriages will reveal the facts and figures. In most cases of early marriage, young girls are removed from schools in order to be married. Thus, early marriage is also closely associated with a denial of educational opportunities and other social, economic and cultural rights. In addition, girls are more vulnerable as a result of their age, inexperience and lack of awareness to reproductive and health problems, gender-based violence, harassment within marriage, economic challenges in case of divorce, or non-maintenance by husbands.

WAN advocates that minimum age of marriage is first and foremost a serious child rights concern, which the State has the principal obligation to protect and NOT one that should be left at the discretion of any particular community.

We are therefore highly disappointed at the counterargument of Minister Rauff Hakeem in response to MP Hirunika, when he stated that the issue of age of marriage is a concern that is being dealt with by the Muslim community through reforms of the MMDA. Reforms to the MMDA have been overdue for 64+ years and we are also saddened that little action was taken by Minister Hakeem during his time as Minister of Justice to expedite the process.

While we are aware that there is a Muslim Personal Law Reforms Committee that was established in 2009 by then the Justice Minister Milinda Moragoda tasked with recommending reforms to the MMDA, we are unaware of the progress that has been made by this committee in the past 7 years. The broader Muslim community has very little information on the work of the committee thus far, timeline of when its report will be delivered to the Government and whether or not it recommends the protection of rights of Muslim children on par with the rest of the children of Sri Lanka.
Given these concerns and significant delay to reforms, many Muslim women’s and victims of the injustices faced under the MMDA have gone before the Public Representation Committee on constitutional reforms in district level hearings in Puttalam and the North and East. They have made oral and written submissions demanding immediate reform of the MMDA or to give Muslims the option of choose to marry under Sri Lankan General Marriage Ordinance. It is highly problematic that when it comes to marriage and divorce, Sri Lankan Muslims are governed only by an outdated MMDA with discriminatory provision that especially violates the rights of Muslim women in many ways (such as allowing early marriages). In Sri Lanka fundamental rights should apply to ALL citizens of the country and not be left to the discretion of minority personal laws. This had to be one of the primary concerns addressed in constitutional reforms.

We reiterate that the issue of age of marriage is NOT a ‘Muslim issue’ but rather one of human rights and child rights. Sri Lanka is required to adhere to global benchmarks set for implementing child rights through a number of human rights instruments and international commitments, such as the Child Rights Convention (CRC) and Convention for Elimination of All forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).

Such rights should apply to ALL citizens of the country. Women of minority communities should not be left out of the protection of their rights. In fact in 2010, the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights at the forty-fifth session, reminded Sri Lanka that when it comes to statutory and personal laws which allow early marriage of girls as young as 12 years old are discriminatory against women and, and restricts their economic, social and cultural rights. They went on to say that repealing such laws “…is an immediate obligation of the State parties which cannot be conditioned to willingness of concerned communities to amend their laws”.

Thus it is illogical that a different minimum age of marriage applies for a minority community than to the rest of Sri Lankan citizens and this discrimination needs to be questioned and raised as a concern by many more MPs. Action also needs to be taken by relevant government agencies such as the National Child Protection Authority to understand the implication of such a discriminatory provision under State laws.

WAN also calls on more political and community leaders to take due effort to understand the situation of minority communities and with this knowledge and awareness raise issues pertaining to the violations of rights. While calling for empathy and understanding, we insist that ‘cultural sensitivity’ should not be used as a cover for not raising concerns and asking important questions. When it comes to human rights issues of any citizen, it is the duty of ALL elected representatives to urge Government to promote laws that treat citizens of this country equally irrespective of their class, religion, ethnicity or gender.

http://srilankabrief.org/2016/03/ch...n-muslim-community-needs-to-be-addressed-wan/

 

[supun1]

15/16 is old enough to make an intelligent decision about marriage if people make a stupid decision how is that our fault? we can't prevent people from making stupid decisions.

 

[Soumitra]

15/16 is old enough to make an intelligent decision about marriage if people make a stupid decision how is that our fault? we can't prevent people from making stupid decisions.

would you be comfortable with your 15/16 year daughter/sister getting married?

 

[supun1]

would you be comfortable with your 15/16 year daughter/sister getting married?

The issues not with my sister.

 

[Soumitra]

The issues not with my sister.

Yes that is the thing. the issue is not with YOUR daughter or YOUR sister. It is with someone else's daughter or sister who at the age 15/16 is married to a man double her age and most probably against her wishes. If you really think a 15/16 year old child (who has not yet even completed her schooling) has the maturity to know what is the responsibilities of marriage then I have nothing else to say to you

 

[supun1]

Yes that is the thing. the issue is not with YOUR daughter or YOUR sister. It is with someone else's daughter or sister who at the age 15/16 is married to a man double her age and most probably against her wishes. If you really think a 15/16 year old child (who has not yet even completed her schooling) has the maturity to know what is the responsibilities of marriage then I have nothing else to say to you

Based on scientific research 15/16 is mature enough to make this decision, their laws already in place that are sufficient so it cannot be against her wishes.

Why do so many Indians believe that it's some sort of man's 'higher' 'unwritten' duty to protect women they don't know?

 

[Nilgiri]

Based on scientific research 15/16 is mature enough to make this decision, their laws already in place that are sufficient so it cannot be against her wishes.

Why do so many Indians believe that it's some sort of man's 'higher' 'unwritten' duty to protect women they don't know?

The human brain doesn't really finish maturing till its mid 20s to 30 years old.

http://mentalhealthdaily.com/2015/02/18/at-what-age-is-the-brain-fully-developed/

So I would like to see your scientific research on this that you mention.

I for one am glad I didn't get married in my teens or even my early 20s...it would have been unnecessary risk and burden on my mental, social and monetary development.

 

[supun1]

The human brain doesn't really finish maturing till its mid 20s to 30 years old.

http://mentalhealthdaily.com/2015/02/18/at-what-age-is-the-brain-fully-developed/

So I would like to see your scientific research on this that you mention.

I for one am glad I didn't get married in my teens or even my early 20s...it would have been unnecessary risk and burden on my mental, social and monetary development.

Alot of countries have set it within those ranges, I dont know any country that set at in the mid-20s to 30.

I'm not arguing the ideal age to get married or whom to get married, off course getting married when you're 15 will not be good for a productive career. But i'm not here to stop people from making bad choices, its their choice, its theirs do as they think fit.