Born Broken: Pakistan's Cousin Marriage Crisis

Introduction

Throughout the history of Homo sapiens, marriage has been a consistent player in forming human bonds. With the passage of time, they discovered that consanguineous marriage can help strengthen the clan or tribe. Seeing through the global lens, inbreeding has geographical disparity, making Pakistan one of the highest listed in cousin marriages.

There is a concrete scientific explanation behind the potential risks associated with incest and cousin marriages, which I will discuss in subsequent paragraphs. Moreover, I will shed some light on why it is highly prevalent in Pakistan and how to ensure safe marriages.

Defining Inbreeding

Inbreeding in humans is a sexual relationship between individuals having blood relationships through common ancestry. It includes incest and cousin marriages.

Historical purview of Consanguineous Marriages

Historically, inbreeding emerged out of necessity due to limited options in early Homo sapiens. But, evolution taught humans to avoid incest due to a higher extent of infant mortality.

Inbreeding was present in ancient civilizations, albeit not very common among the general public. For example, Egyptians, Mesopotamians, and Incan royalty married close relatives to maintain royal bloodlines. For instance, Tutankhamun was a product of sibling union, having congenital defects.

Later on, Judaism and Christianity banned inbreeding in favor of out-breeding. Islam allowed cousin marriages but banned incest, becoming one of the reasons for high prevalence of inbreeding in Pakistan. Moreover, Greeks and Romans also banned close-kin mating, setting precedents in European tradition. It was the advent of science that formalized the deleterious effects of inbreeding, deterring masses from consanguineous unions.

Genetic Risks: What Science Reveals

It wasn’t only science that stressed the adverse health effects of consanguineous mating. Early Homo sapiens had already solved this mystery to some extent. Primarily, marriage wasn’t known to our hunter-gatherer forefathers, but they connected the dots and learned through the consistent patterns of the deaths of the newborns, specifically in incestuous mating.

Later on, science enumerated the chances of potential risks based on the degree of blood relation. Inbreeding is measured using the Inbreeding Coefficient (F). The higher the coefficient, the higher the chances of genetic disorders, even infant mortality.

Parent-child has an inbreeding coefficient of 0.25, uncle-niece/aunt-nephew has 0.125, and first cousins have a coefficient of 0.0625. As you move away from the branch of the bloodline—first, second, third, and fourth cousins—the inbreeding coefficient decreases, reducing the risks.

So, how exactly does this work? We humans have two copies of genes—one from each parent. Each person carries some bad or faulty genes, but we don’t get sick because we get another good copy from the other parent. Now, in inbreeding, both parents are related, and they might carry the same faulty gene that their child can acquire, leading to genetic disorders.

Therefore, the newborn children, firstly, have a higher chance of infant mortality. And if they make it, it becomes more challenging for them to live and face disabilities such as mental illness, neurological syndromes, metabolic disorders, congenital deafness, and disorders like Thalassemia.

Why Inbreeding Persists in Pakistan?

According to BMC Women's Health, Pakistan has consistently been topping the list of countries with the highest inbreeding rate, with 60–70% of all marriages being consanguineous. This is not highly prevalent only in Pakistan but also among immigrant Pakistanis across the globe, with one notable example being British Pakistanis. One can produce thousands of reasons, but what I consider highly responsible is the lack of education/awareness and sensitization of even educated families towards honor culture.

Local traditions and inheritance customs, in tandem with religious permissibility, take cover for the highest prevalence among South and West Asian Muslims—but not among East Asian Muslims. Religion is undoubtedly a substantial cause but not the only reason. In the case of Pakistan, it has a clan-based family structure where family unions are made in order to strengthen the clan and limit the wealth within it. Some areas are still prone to caste-based traditions, restricting out breeding.

Why It Demands Urgent Attention?

Consanguineous unions can cause a heinous catastrophe on the health of infants, making life challenging for both the children and parents. The children become no less than a burden for parents and even for themselves. People in the countryside do not consider this even a point of concern, which itself is a point of concern—for them to realize the serious health issues linked to this before consenting to marry a cousin.

If a to-be couple does not believe in the scientific concerns related to consanguineous marriage, what would be the point to argue this fact until they are struck by the worst outcomes.

Policy and Social Reforms to Mitigate Inbreeding

First of all, it is imperative for the state to raise awareness about the potential risks of inbreeding. People must embrace the scientific explanation of inbreeding disasters. It should be part of the state’s policy-making because, in the long run, the increased number of such defective children would be a burden on the state too.

The state should run awareness campaigns, especially in the rural areas where young women fall short of education and are the victims of this calamity. Religious scholars must take the front seat in reconciling religious permissibility with scientific explanation, desensitizing inbreeding.

Cousin marriages must be avoided in the first place, but in extreme situations, the to-be couple must take genetic counseling before marriage.

They must avoid the marriage in case of having unhealthy recessive genes on the part of both of them. Alongside all, school and college education must also incorporate such social concerns in the curricula, ensuring education justice.

Lastly, society as a whole must join hands in disrupting such poisonous social customs, educating each other on the potential perils and risks regarding the health of upcoming generations.

Point to Ponder

"If religion allows cousin marriage, does that exempt us from the moral duty to question its consequences in light of modern science?"