It is a wonder that it took so long for the Federal Shariat Court to declare the practice of swara un-Islamic. To begin with, swara has no relation to Islam; it is a tribal custom, also referred to as vani, where usually minor girls are seen as compensation to settle disputes, often involving murder. These decisions are taken by jirgas who call for the ‘giving away’ in marriage of young girls from the aggressor’s family to older men of the aggrieved party. A three-judge bench of the Federal Shariat Court ruled that religious scholars had agreed that swara or vani was against the injunctions of Islam. The bench was hearing a petition by Sakeena Bibi who challenged the custom of vani for violating the fundamental rights of girls and women. According to the court’s juristconsult, the practice of swara and vani violated at least four fundamental rights of the victims: the girls offered in swara or vani are usually kept deprived of even their basic needs thus subjecting them to discrimination, forced marriage, loss of entitlement to dower and inability to seek legal recourse for dissolution of the marriage.