Both teenage girls who went missing from Karachi on Monday were found in different parts of Punjab, and it was also reported that they had both left home to marry.
Dua Zahra, a 14-year-old resident of Karachi’s Malir Al-Falah Society, has been missing for 10 days, while Nimrah Kazmi, a 14-year-old from Karachi’s Saudabad area, has been missing for a week.
These girls were apprehended by police on Monday in various cities across Punjab. According to the police, both girls left their homes of their own free will and married in Punjab.
Nimrah Kazmi is married to Najib Shah Rukh in Dera Ghazi Khan, and Dua Zahra married a boy in Lahore, according to reports.
Why do Karachi girls flee to Punjab for love marriage is a question that arises here. The answer is that a girl must be 18 years old when she marries under the Sindh Child Marriage Act 2013, whereas the age limit in other provinces is 16 years.
Taking advantage of the 16-year-old age limit prevents teenagers from fleeing Punjab to register their lover marriage in order to avoid legal repercussions due to the Sindh Child Marriage Act 2013.
It should be remembered that, following the disappearance of the two girls, the country’s intelligence agencies became extremely active, putting forth every effort to recover the girls safely.