[DAWN] MINGORA: The religious scholars and Learned Elders of Islam here on Saturday termed the forced and swara marriages against Sharia and asked the authorities concerned to ban such practices once and for all.They were speaking at a seminar about 'early and forced marriages' organised by the Awakening, an organization working for the women's rights, and for social and cultural development. Iftikhar Hussain, a representative of Awakening, said that owning to frequent forced and early marriages it was deemed necessary to tell the society that such practices were against Sharia.
"Taking opinion of Learned Elders of Islam and religious scholars about the early and forced marriages is an important factor in our campaign. The common people understand the Learned Elders of Islam well. The religious scholars can easily motivate the communities to shun the practice of swara," he said.
Religious scholar Mufti Abdul Wahab said that swara or forceful marriage of a girl to resolve conflicts between two rival families was an anti-Islamic act. He said that Islam gave freedom to a girl and boy for marriage and the Islamic state was responsible to ensure, food, security, shelter, education, health and even Nikah in a proper way to a person. He said that swara or forced marriage was also against Pakhtun traditions.