Pakistan:Sindh Assembly demands end to CII

The Sindh Assembly Monday demanded the disbandment of the Council of Islamic Ideology while passing a resolution to stop implementation on the CII's earlier decisions, DawnNews reported. The resolution was moved by Pakistan Muslim League-Functional's (PML-F) leader Mehtab Akhtar Rashidi. The Assembly expressed serious reservations over the recent decisions taken by the CII with regards to women. It moreover demanded of the federal government that any implementation of the CII’s recommendations on underage marriages and DNA tests should be stopped The CII has come under fire with its controversial statements and rulings. Earlier this month, the CII had ruled that laws related to minimum age of marriage were un-Islamic and that children of any age could get married if they attain puberty. CII chairman Maulana Mohammad Khan Sheerani had said that the age of puberty varied from individuals to individuals and that it was the responsibility of guardians to have ruksati as soon as the child attains the age of puberty. It had also said that the current law requiring a man to seek written permission from his wife before contracting a second marriage should be amended. “The government should amend the law to make the issue of more than one marriage easy and in accordance with Sharia," Sheerani had said.