However, the town faced harsh times after the devastating flood of 2022. Many families, including Sumaira’s, struggled to make ends meet. With crops ruined and livelihoods destroyed, desperation crept into their lives.

Sumaira’s father, Ali, a hardworking farmer, found himself drowning in debt. He agonized over how to provide for his family. Like many others, he turned to desperate measures, selling off whatever little they had left.

Tragically, it was the daughters who bore the brunt of this desperation. Families, unable to cope with financial burdens, resorted to selling their young girls. Sumaira overheard whispered conversations about girls being treated as commodities, sold multiple times to settle debts or fulfill societal obligations.

A local health worker Fozia, seeing the plight of these girls, lamented the situation. She witnessed how girls were married off hastily or accused unjustly, all to save face or escape dire circumstances.

As days passed, the situation grew worse. The flood had not only devastated the land but also shattered the hopes of the people.

According to the local administration, after the economic downturn that followed the 2022 flood, such incidents are being heard more than ever.

“Most of the girls are married off for between three to five lakh rupees. With this money, farmers and laborers pay off their debts, get medical treatment from Karachi or invest in their son’s education,” DSP Usta Muhammad Shams Rahim told.

When asked, a father said that “We only sell the daughter because she has children. They don’t sell boys because they don’t get anything.”

“This loan is also of two types, one is where the laborers work as farmers and have to pay the loan of the land destroyed after the flood along with low wages and the other is the loan which is taken as a result of medical treatment. Treatment and house expenses are taken out, but in both these cases, the loan amount is being paid by selling the young girls.”

A local health worker Fozia said that in many cases, a young girl is sold two to three times. Which happens when the girl cannot ‘adjust’.

Many times, girls run away from home after hearing about being sold, and if she has sisters, the loss of her running away is compensated by marrying off her younger sisters.

Fozia said that young girls can sometimes be accused of adultery by the landlords whose land the farmers work on, and fearing slander, parents get a young girl married in a hurry.

Despite being part of the remote Usta Muhammad district of Balochistan, it is an area that can easily be overlooked. Officials do not come here, but after the flood of 2022, government agencies went to Bagh, Goth Abdul Latif, Chowki Jamali and other areas, after which many facts came to light.

These areas are located on the border of Sindh and Balochistan and is part of the Usta Muhammad district. The total population of Usta Muhammad district is more or less around 50 thousand. Most of the population here are farmers and daily wage labourers.

The situation in Usta Muhammad has worsened after the floods and is exemplified by the sale of young girls.

Madad Community, an organization working on climate change in Balochistan, recently told about the province that as a result of climate change and floods, it has become very difficult to earn from the agriculture sector.

Organizer Maryam Jamali said that most people were forced to migrate, including the middle class of Balochistan. Poor farmers still have nowhere to go. As a result of extreme heat, more droughts and floods have been predicted.

She said that it has become difficult for the farmers who survive only on agricultural production to earn from the land because the production is decreasing with each season and as a result of the lack of food from above, they have to take loans. fulfill it.’

Maryam said that as a result of low income, people in Nasirabad areas are living by selling girls.

Former Member of the Provincial Assembly Yasmin Lahri said that in 2014, when she presented the bill to set the age limit for marriage in the Balochistan Assembly, it was strongly opposed by the religious parties. But they were quite active. They told the government that the legislation should be made according to Sharia.”

In 2016, once again MPA Dr Shama Ishaq presented this bill in the assembly, but the MPAs rejected it once again terming it as ‘un-Islamic’.

The media and civil society raised a lot of noise, but this bill could not be presented again in the assembly, she added.

According to Information Secretary Balochistan Imran Khan, the last time the bill was presented before the Balochistan Cabinet, objections were raised regarding setting the age limit at 18 years and declaring it invalid despite having a child after marriage. After which this bill was sent back to the concerned departments.

A law made in 1929 to prohibit child marriage has been in force throughout Pakistan.

Under this Act:

• A girl should be at least 16 years old and a boy 18 years old at the time of marriage.
• If there are no authentic documents to determine a person’s age, the court orders a medical examination of the person.
• Parents or guardians marrying children at a young age or bridegroom above 18 years of age can be punished with imprisonment for one month or a fine of Rs.1000.

After the Eighteenth Amendment to the Constitution in 2010, marriage and family matters became a provincial subject.

Samreen Mengal, a social activist working in Quetta, believes that legislation is inevitable regarding the prohibition of child marriages. According to them, the age limit for marriage should be 18 years.

Zia Baloch belongs to a welfare organization. He and other organizations have stopped many such marriages by taking timely action. Zia said that last year he not only conducted such a marriage but also registered a case.

Sara Zaman, a feminist activist and researcher from Karachi, also teaches at a private university. She has been working with various national and international organizations for the past fifteen years regarding women’s issues. According to him, there are social, religious and economic reasons behind early marriages. “Marriage of young girls is also beneficial to the parents as they neither have to spend much on their daughter’s marriage nor have to pay dowry”.

Their research revealed that such marriages are arranged to settle family debts, end blood feuds or simply meet household expenses.

Professor Dr. Najma Ghaffar, Head of the Gynecology Unit at Bolan Medical College,

Quetta, says that early marriages lead to many complications in maternity. According to her, for improvement, it is necessary to create a system to train the law enforcement officials and bring the cases on track.