Staff Report
LAHORE: The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan
(HRCP) has demanded action against jirgas in
Shikarpur and Jacobabad that are perpetuating the
custom of vani, whereby girls are forcibly
married off to resolve disputes between feuding
families.
The jirgas are a clear violation of Sindh High
Court orders and the government must take action
against the elected representatives and feudal
lords responsible for holding jirgas in Shikarpur
and Jacobabad, HRCP vice chairperson Zohra Yusuf
said in a statement on Monday.
According to an initial investigation by the
HRCP, on May 31, in Lucky Ghulam Shah tehsil,
Shikarpur, advocate Agha Sanaullah Durrani heard
a complaint from Imdad Sathar against his cousin
Muhammad Ramzan Sathar for the recovery of 11
buffaloes. Ramzan failed to pay for the 11
buffaloes and with the consent of his father and
grandfather agreed before a jirga to give his
daughters (9-year-old Heer and 1-year-old Karima)
as compensation for the buffaloes. In the
presence of 7 witnesses, Ramzan signed on a stamp
paper of Rs 50 and promised to deliver his
daughters within three days. A court in Shikarpur
gas issued an order against the marriage of the
two minor girls after HRCP activists raised the
issue.
During the last week of May, another jirga headed
by PPPP MNA Mir Hazar Khan Bijarani, Tehsil Nazim
Thal Akbar Banglani and Pir Bharchoondi Mian
Abdul Khalique ended a decade-old feud between
two rival groups by offering five minor girls
(4-year-old Basheeran, 7-year-old Amna,
8-year-old Shahzadi, 5-year-old Noor Bano and
5-year-old Maryam) as compensation, said the HRCP
statement.
"The HRCP believes that jirgas are being
encouraged by the Sindh government to strengthen
the powers of the Sardars and Waderas and to
further weaken the judicial and law enforcement
systems,“said the statement.”The HRCP reiterates its demand that clear
directives be issued to the police and district
administrations to prevent such gatherings, as
their decisions are illegal and against the norms
of human dignity. They violate the rights of
women and children in particular. A failure to
take immediate and meaningful action would result
in more barbaric decisions such as those taken by
jirgas in Shikarpur and Jacobabad."