Monday, June 2, 2008, Jamadi-ul-Awwal 26, 1429    

Vani cases of Chakrani tribe
LFP to challenge the Jirga decision in court

Islamabad—The newly elected Chairman of Liberal Forum Pakistan, Anees Jillani Advocate, along with other office bearers of LFP, have urged the Federal Government, including the Minister for Women Development and Minister for Social Welfare, and the Provincial Government of Sindh, to urgently intervene to save the fifteen under-age girls of the Chakrani tribe who were engaged to “marry” Qalandari tribesmen on May 30 to settle a blood feud between the two tribes.

On May 28, the Chakrani tribe had pledged to “marry off” three- to 10-year-old girls to settle the feud with the Qalandari tribe, which erupted after the latter tribe’s dog bit a donkey belonging to the former.

The eight-year-old dispute was settled in a jirga held in Lanjoo Saghari village near the Sindh-Balochistan border. The Chakranis have so far refused to accept the verdict. The tribal feud has so far claimed the lives of 11 Qalandaris and two Chakranis, including a woman.

The jirga decided to implement a decision announced by Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti in 2002, according to which the Chakrani tribe will pay a fine of Rs 4 million while the Qalandaris will pay Rs1.2 million to the other and marry off a girl every month irrespective of the ages of their “fiancés”.

Mr Jillani in the statement has expressed his shock that marrying off under-age girls to settle tribal disputes or crimes like murder or adultery continues to be a common practice among tribes of Sindh and Balochistan. The feudal ruling class, and the indifferent bureaucracy continues to ignore this practice which is a gross violation of the human rights of the children and women involved who are being treated through these jirgas worst than cattle. He has asked the High Courts of Sindh and Balochistan along with other courts to take suo moto notice of this most recent incident and have also asked the Sindh Provincial President of the LFP to file a constitutional petition against this jirga decision on the basis of the relevant constitutional articles and the Pakistan Penal Code provisions.

A few years ago, the Sukkur circuit bench of the Sindh High Court had declared the holding of a jirga illegal on a public interest petition filed by lawyer-cum-human rights activist Ghulam Shabbir Shar. In late 2006, the then Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry had taken suo motu notice of a similar jirga presided over by PPP leader Mir Bijarani. The jirga had ordered a tribe to give three under-age girls in marriage to their rivals to settle a dispute. The Chief Justice’s timely intervention had saved the girls from being sacrificed at the altar of tribal customs.

The newly elected Chairman of Liberal Forum Pakistan has also asked the print and the electronic media to take notice of such incidents and to keep constant pressure on the concerned authorities and the government to take action against the culprits.—Online