PAS PUTS ITS ‘ISLAMIC’ FOOT DOWN: ‘NO’ TO OUTRIGHT BANNING OF CHILD MARRIAGES

PAS vice-president Mohd Amar Nik Abdullah says he is personally against Putrajaya’s plans to ban child marriages.

“Banning it outright, I don’t agree with that, because from a religious standpoint it is not wrong, but we can control it.

“We have laws, where underage marriages must receive consent from state authorities, so let’s just enforce that law,” Mohd Amar told reporters when met in Kota Bharu today.

The Kelantan deputy menteri besar was responding to Minister in the Prime Minister’s Department Mujahid Yusof Rawa, who earlier today said that Putrajaya was formulating a standard operating procedure (SOP) to make syariah court provisions on child marriages even more strict.

Mujahid said the SOP was a short-term measure, and that the government plans to ban child marriages outright eventually.

Previously the country was shaken by news that a 41-year-old man from Gua Musang had wed an 11-year-old child without consummating the marriage.

At present, Muslim girls under 16, and boys under 18, need permission from a syariah court before they can marry.

Non-Muslim children must get permission from a chief minister or menteri besar.

– M’kini