Vani: Child Marriages in Pakistan

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What is Vani?

Vani is a form of Child marriage that is practiced in rural areas of Pakistan. It is one of the ancient customs of Pakistan that involves the marriage of one family's daughter to another family's son. If the other family does not have any son, then the daughter is married with an elder usually the head of the family. It is considered to be the peaceful agreement among two parties.  The custom takes place when a male or female member of the family commits a crime or deviates from tribe’s norms. The final decision is taken by the leader of tribe (Chaudary).

Custom of Vani in Pakistan

In the world today, as the earth begins to tremble into the light of development, some of the areas still persist to hour of ignorance. Pakistan faces huge financial losses but at the same time a lot of development in the form of infrastructure contradicts the results. Since Pakistan’s existence, no noticeable positive changes have taken place in Pakistani culture. People live and die listening to epic stories. Their first breadth starts with an irrational action followed by the back stabbing traditions of their forefathers. The count of these irrational ancient customs such as Vani is endless. These individuals do not even recognize their own identity before they choose to sacrifice their soul for the very people who claimed to have been the heroes of their society.  

Although, the custom is illegal in Pakistan, it is still practiced in tribal areas of Punjab and Sindh among other ethnic groups of Pakistan. It is deemed as a form of conflict resolution amongst families, yet no one pays any attention to the lives of young innocent girls who had not yet fully grown up to understand the realities of life. A young girl is traded for the mistakes, crimes and sins of their other family members. Whole her lives, she would have to live with a groom and his family, who would never love or respect her. These oppressions create depressions leading to colossal psychological damages and traumas. I think, it is due to the flaws of education system in Pakistan that Vani is still carried out in this contemporary world. By the end of the day, education is a decisive factor for society’s social and psychological development.

Moral Obligation

As these things continue to run the final round, the illiterate people do not even know about the modern themes and civilizations. The old customs and traditions coming down from ancestors are being followed without thinking about their consequences. The dominance of masculine over feminine has always been a global issue but in Pakistan it has proliferated not obliterated. The brutality of men on their women and the manipulation in the lives of girls create a sense of restlessness in the nation.

There are diverse customs and norms which deviate from the set path of ethical and moral society. The nation is yet to know about the reality of these backward areas as no nation could prosper and progress when its people are tied up in these small yet life changing decisions. As the time goes by, the ray of hope starts to fade away. It’s time to root out the cruelty of men over their women from our society. The time has come when we should stand against barren, sterile and evil customs of Pakistan like Vani / child marriage for the sake of privileging our women with freedom of choice, thought and opinion.