Islamabad: Pakistan's civil society members today slammed the Council of Islamic Ideology as “barbaric, medieval and cruel” after the constitutional body issued a controversial ruling saying a man does not need his wife's consent for a second marriage.
A statement released by Human rights activist Tahira Abdullah on behalf of the civil society also demanded that the body, known as CII, should be abolished.
The angry reaction came after the CII, a constitutional body which gives legal advice to the government on religious issues, said a man does not need his wife's consent for a second marriage and that laws prohibiting underage marriage was un-Islamic.
“We strongly condemn and outright reject him (CII chief Maulana Mohammad Khan Sheerani) and both his statements against women and girls, regarding polygamy conditionality and early marriage criteria. We, and almost all Pakistanis, do not take either his words or the CII seriously,” the statement said.
“We, and almost all Pakistanis, do not take either his words or the CII seriously. But, unfortunately, the Parliament does, as the CII has Constitutional protection, although its pronouncements can serve only as advice and recommendations to the legislators,” it said.
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