Pakistan’s top court reinstates widow fired after remarriage, calls policy discriminatory

Pakistan’s Supreme Court has reinstated a woman who was dismissed from a government job after she remarried, calling the policy behind her termination discriminatory and unconstitutional.

The court upheld a 2022 decision by the Lahore High Court in favor of the woman, whose job was part of a state relief program for families of deceased public employees.

The woman’s first husband, an officer in Pakistan’s Income Tax Department, died in 2006. In 2010, she was hired as a Lower Division Clerk under the Prime Minister’s Assistance Package, which offers jobs and financial help to the families of deceased civil servants.

Her contract was extended multiple times until January 2016, when the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) terminated her employment. The dismissal was based on a 2015 government directive stating that widows who remarry are no longer eligible for continued employment under the package.

This restriction did not apply to male spouses, creating what the court described as clear gender discrimination.

The FBR appealed the high court’s ruling, but the Supreme Court rejected the appeal on Wednesday.

“Denying a woman the right to employment on the basis of her remarriage is a blatant reinforcement of patriarchal control,” the court said in a detailed judgement by Justice Syed Mansoor Ali Shah and Justice Aqeel Ahmed Abbasi.

The judges noted women are “independent individuals” with legal rights, and that financial independence is crucial to their dignity and full participation in society.

The ruling cited Articles 25(1), 25(2), and 27 of Pakistan’s Constitution, which guarantee equal treatment under the law and prohibit discrimination based on sex. It also noted that the policy violated Pakistan’s commitments under international human rights law, including the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW).

Although the controversial directive was withdrawn by the government in November 2024, the court said it had to examine its legality because it was used to justify the woman's dismissal in 2016.

“This kind of gender-specific disqualification has no place in a constitutional democracy,” the court wrote. “Widows must not be penalized for choosing to remarry—a personal and constitutionally protected decision.”

The court also clarified that a recent verdict striking down the broader Assistance Package does not apply retroactively and does not affect appointments already made under the scheme.