Saima Bashir Wani
Nikkah has become largely expensive and difficult in Kashmir. Recently, a report compiled by a reputed NGO was published in a newspaper on 29 April 2021 and various different social media platforms had covered this report. It said that the number of girls who have touched the age bar of marriage or those who have already crossed the age bar of marriage is 5000 in number and Srinagar city alone, has 10,000 such cases. This is simply heart-wrenching and alarming.
CAUSES OF LATE MARRIAGE IN KASHMIR
There are different causes of late marriages in Kashmir, some of the main causes have been briefly enumerated below.
A plethora of men and women prefer late marriage because they do not want to be accountable at an early age and most women and men believe their freedom has been hounded and heckled. Another main reason is extravagant weddings because poor families cannot afford such weddings. Another reason being the dowry, which is most prominent in cities.
This is one of the reasons we see a large number of unmarried girls in the Srinagar district. Furthermore, another reason is unemployment, which has been the biggest hindrance in the marriage set up in the valley, where it takes 35 years to get govt. job, whereas, in some cases, people do not even get a government job. Most families demand that the girls too hold a government job and in this way, the whole of the system gets trampled.
Finally, another cause is poverty, wherein in some cases, parents sell their property to marry their daughters.
WAY FORWARD
Change is imperative, for if we do not change our mindset, then it would be too late. In my point of view, compromise is just because no one is perfect in the world.
We must compromise on the government job taboo, if someone does not have a government job but he or is highly qualified, we can compromise on the caste system.
We must come out of this orthodox thinking and must shun the evil of dowry. Indeed, some NGOs in Jammu Kashmir are doing a prominent job, by providing monetary help to such families who don’t have many resources to marry their daughters.
And in my point of view, we must think of simple marriage as our beloved PROPHET MOHAMMAD (S.A.W) has said that the marriage which is less expensive, is the most beautiful marriage. Furthermore, we must create civic boards in every society to keep the overlook of the girls who don’t have much family support and we must help them as much as possible.
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own. The Kashmiriyat does not necessarily agree with the opinion expressed.