Sindh’s Christian Clergy Demand Equal Consultation and an Independent Legal Review of the Family Laws Bill
KARACHI: Clergy leaders from Christian denominations across Sindh have set out their position on the proposed Sindh Christian Family Laws Bill 2026, and it is a careful one: reform is welcome, imposition is not. Speaking at a press conference at the Philadelphia Pentecostal Church of Pakistan on Saturday, leaders of Pentecostal, Associate Reformed Presbyterian, Presbyterian, Baptist/Brethren, Methodist and Evangelical churches welcomed the effort to strengthen the protection and legal rights of Christian families, and commended a legislative initiative taken 154 years after the old laws.
The reforms they backed
The clergy supported the provisions setting 18 as the minimum marriage age for both men and women, requiring marriage to be between two Christian parties, and providing safeguards for the marital covenant, registration of marriage, free and informed consent, maintenance, child protection and timely access to justice. But those goals, they stressed, need clear language, fair procedures and implementation that actually works.
The core demand: no denomination’s doctrine imposed on another
“Legislation should provide equal civil protection to members of all Christian denominations,” Pastor Asher Mansha said. “The religious systems, doctrines or ecclesiastical regulations of any one denomination must not be imposed upon other Christian denominations.” Pastor Francis Hayat added that civil rights and legal remedies must be kept distinct from ecclesiastical rites, matters of faith and the internal governance of churches. The leaders asked that every provision be tested against the Christian Marriage Act 1872 and the Divorce Act 1869, that church leadership, legal experts, theologians and women be consulted in substance, and that an independent legal review assess constitutional safeguards, court jurisdiction, repealing provisions and pending cases. Their recommendations, they said, should be documented transparently, and every church institution should keep the right to state its own position independently — a pointed demand, given that other major church bodies have already voiced reservations about the draft.
