Islamabad: Public and media pressure and threat of action by the police forced a 45-year-old man , to divorce a four-year-old child whom he had married under a tribal custom in Dera Ismail Khan.
A local panchayat ordered and solemnised the marriage as part of a dispute settlement under the ‘vani’ custom.
Local police arrested 13 people, including members of a panchayat, which had ordered the marriage.
Those arrested included Mahboob, the man to whom the girl was married, Alamsher, the girl's father and Saifur Rehman, the panchayat leader.
They face prosecution under a new provision, section 310-A of the Pakistan Penal Code - incorporated after the enactment of the Criminal Law Amendment Act on Jan 11, 2005, Dawn newspaper said Friday.
The regime of President Pervez Musharraf, that piloted a legislation to give a better deal to women accused of rape and adultery last year, has announced that it would usher in more social reforms in areas pertaining to age-old tribal practices.
However, the clergy and the conservatives are opposing the reforms.
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