Ban Cousin Marriages in Pakistan

Cousin and Consanguineous marriages should be discouraged and completely banned in Pakistan.

Pakistan has one of the world's highest rate of cousin marriages

Data collected in 2014 from the Malakand District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province (KPK), Pakistan showed that around 66.4% of marriages among rural couples were to a first or second cousin, higher proportion of first-cousin marriages in Pakistan has been noted to be the cause of an increased rate of blood disorders in the population

Marriage between first cousins doubles the risk of children being born with birth defects, according to a study seeking answers to the higher than expected rates of deaths and congenital abnormalities in the babies of the Pakistani community.

Researchers have concluded that the cultural practice of marriage between first cousins is a bigger factor than any other – outweighing the effects of deprivation in parts of Bradford, where the study was carried out. Marriage to a blood relative accounted for nearly a third (31%) of all birth defects in babies of Pakistani origin.

Source: The Guardian

Consanguineous marriage can result in children with cognitive difficulties, heart defects, hearing loss, mood disorders and psychoses, neonatal diabetes, limb malformations, schizophrenia, disorders of sex development, lower iq and other genetically inherited diseases.