Since January 1, more than 10,000 divorce cases have been filed among 15,198 new family cases in 44 family courts.
Rawalpindi District Court. PHOTO: ARCHIVE
The centuries-old tradition of arranged family marriages in Rawalpindi district is facing an unprecedented crisis, largely attributed to the widespread influence of social media platforms, including TikTok, Facebook, YouTube and Messenger, which have brought the family system to the brink of collapse.
From January 1 to date this year, a total of 15,198 new cases and petitions, including divorces, khula, family disputes, maintenance claims, recovery of dowry items, household expenses and child custody issues, have been filed in the 44 family courts of the district. During the same period, the number of women who divorced increased alarmingly to reach 10,572 cases.
Following the amendments to the Christian Family Law, there has also been a significant increase in divorce petitions filed by Christian women. Previously, Christian women could not obtain a divorce directly; However, since the legal change, 104 Christian women have gone to family courts this year to request the dissolution of the marriage.
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During this period, 152 separated women were ordered by the courts to return from their parental homes to their matrimonial residences to rebuild their families. Meanwhile, within the jurisdictions of 34 police stations across the district, 1,205 girls and women reportedly left their homes and got married in courts.
The rising divorce rate has also resulted in a record increase in court-ordered family visits between separated children and parents. According to court data, between 70 and 75 percent of divorced women had entered into marriages described as non-coincident, which included extrafamilial unions, love marriages, elopements or relationships formed through social media platforms.
Throughout the year, following domestic disputes, 217 children who had been separated from their mothers were recovered from their parents or grandparents and returned to maternal custody. Additionally, 671 women were granted return of dowry items, while 9,811 women received court orders ensuring payment of monthly maintenance from their husbands.
The continuous rise in family litigation has put immense pressure on the judicial system, with each family court hearing more than 100 cases daily. At the same time, a shortage of family court judges has begun to emerge. Informal dispute resolution mechanisms, including jirga-style agreements and facilitation centres, have remained largely ineffective and have failed to resolve family disputes outside of court.
As a result of the overwhelming number of cases, Rawalpindi district courts and all tehsil courts witness crowds of women accompanied by small children on a daily basis. Currently, approximately 16,000 family cases (both new and pending) are being tried across the district. Proceedings are expected to resume after the winter judicial recess.
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Family law lawyer Mehran Anwar Ijaz Chaudhry emphasized the urgent need to revive the traditional family-based marriage system. He advised against granting complete autonomy to children through unrestricted use of mobile phones up to the enrollment level, and emphasized that although mobile phones are a necessity, their nighttime and unsupervised use should be limited. He also called for greater parental supervision of girls from ninth grade to intermediate level.
Meanwhile, Taiba Abbasi, advocate and secretary of the Human Rights Association, said family disputes caused by social media interactions are becoming an increasingly serious social problem. She argued that early marriages within family structures could help curb this trend, adding that the ease of divorce under current laws has also encouraged women to go to court at the first sign of conflict.
Abbasi warned that the situation poses a serious threat to social stability and called for the establishment of a structured, extrajudicial family dispute resolution system (from the national level to union councils) made up of retired judges.
He suggested that such forums should focus on reconciliation and be empowered to issue binding decisions to avoid unnecessary divorces. Without those reforms, he warned, the family justice system could face total collapse in the next five to 10 years.
