The National Assembly’s Standing Committee on Religious Affairs has once again unanimously rejected The Child Marriage Restraint (Amendment) Bill, 2016. It charges the latter with being against the Sunnah and thereby deems it un-Islamic. The proposed legislature is aimed at increasing from 16 to 18 the minimum age of marriage for girls. The private member bill was moved by MQM MNA Kishwer Zehra. This is not the first time that the Bill has faced parliamentary opposition. Yet what, perhaps, is surprising this time around how MNAs belonging to minority religions have seen fit to add their voices to the un-Islamic declarations. Last year, a similar recommendation by the PML-N’s Marvi Memon — who also serves as head of the Benazir Income Support Programme — was rejected by the standing committee on similar grounds. Council of Islamic Ideology (CII) committee members and officials had maintained that introducing such age limits was a western idea, and thus contrary to the culture and values of Muslims. While this remains a sensitive issue in terms of religious interpretation of historical precedents, the issue does not solely fall under the domain of religious affairs. A body should be constituted to include experts such as doctors and psychologists to ascertain to what extent early marriages impact women’s health. Despite the backing of logical arguments and evidence for this — the parliamentary committee and the CII have rejected any such suggestions under the garb of religion. Lastly, there is a need to increase women’s participation in politics to balance the huge gender gap. Unless women enjoy equal representation on such committees -men with rigid interpretations of religion will continue to write the fate of half the country’s population under the false garbs of religion and western propaganda. *