A private "deal" between two families under which juvenile...

A private "deal" between two families under which juvenile girls were married off to old men as part of a compensation package to save four murder convicts on death row was attacked by women and human rights activists in Pakistan.
"We strongly condemn the deal struck at Abakhel village where the two parties settled the matter with the gifting of eight girls and a large sum of money to the aggrieved side as compensation," a coalition of women's rights NGOs said in a joint statement.
According to a report in Pakistani daily 'The News', a family in the village, located in the Mianwali district of Punjab province, wedded off two teenage daughters to old men as part of a compensation. The family has reportedly promised to marry six other young girls, as part of the deal.
Well-known lawyer Hina Jilani, who is also the secretary general of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP), said such inhuman and condemnable acts regularly took place due to flawed laws within the system.
"Under these laws, nothing is left for the state to do," Jilani said pointing that HRCP had been campaigning against several laws for years because they perpetuated gross human rights violations and violence against women.