3-Year-Old Girl Sold in Balochistan for $9,000 Bride Price Sparks Outrage

In the border town of Chaman, police arrested Abdul Baqi after a social-media outcry over a contract that would have married his three-year-old daughter, Babbo, to 60-year-old Salah Uddin for 2.5 million Pakistani rupees, roughly $9,000. The arrangement, known as walwar, had not been finalized because the agreed payment was incomplete, but it would have legally bound the child as the man's wife once settled. Investigators are also examining whether this case is connected to the murder of the girl's older sister, Shukria Bibi, who was killed two weeks earlier after a prior walwar-linked marriage to the same man's son.

Police have placed the child and her mother under state protection and are searching for the 60-year-old suspect, who remains at large. Balochistan's chief minister ordered a full investigation, emphasizing the province's opposition to child marriage under the 2025 Child Marriages Restraint Act. The incident underscores the persistence of walwar in remote tribal areas despite legal bans and highlights broader concerns about child-rights violations in Pakistan.