Two jailed for facilitating Swara of minor
DIR, July 7: A court in Wari tehsil on Saturday sent two men to prison for facilitating a jirga decision, following which a minor girl was given away in Swara. Judge Aftab Iqbal also ordered the registration of an FIR against the jirga members and other onlookers.
The judge had unearthed the Swara case while checking the records of an oath commissioner-cum-petition writer. According to facts of the case, Zarawar Khan’s family had allegedly killed one Khaista Bibi.
To end enmity between the two families, a jirga decided that Naseem Bibi, 9, the daughter of Zarawar Khan, would be given in Swara to Abdullah, son of Sher Alam, of the rival family.
The jirga also declared in a written agreement that although the nikah of Naseem Bibi would be solemnised soon, the minor girl would not be handed over to the rival family until she attained the age of 18 years.
In line with the jirga decision, the nikah of the minor girl was performed five months ago. However, the cleric who had performed the nikah later died.
Both parties had agreed to get the matrimonial deed attested by an oath commissioner to provide a legal cover to the ‘nikah’. This was done five months ago.
However, they had no idea that the attestation of the matrimonial deed would land them in trouble. The deed said that any party violating the agreement would be fined Rs200,000.
Dilawar Khan, a witness, and Matiullah, the oath commissioner-cum-petition writer, were arrested by the police and sent to jail.
The court also ordered the registration of an FIR against jirga member Amir Zaman and Toti Khan, under Section 310-A of the Pakistan Penal Code. The section prohibits giving a female to a rival group for settling a blood feud.
DISPUTE RESOLVED: A local jirga resolved a two-decade-old dispute between two tribes of Upper Dir for the possession of a mountain. The dispute had claimed more than 20 lives.
The Karbadi-Nihag and Jabar-Usherai tribes have fought three battles to capture the mountain in the past 20 years but no tribe could completely capture it.
In order to avoid more clashes and to resolve the issue permanently, a grand jirga comprising influential local elders, district nazim, tehsil nazim, district coordination officer, district police officer, district revenue officer and local union nazims was constituted last year.
Members of the jirga, along with hundreds of local people, walked for about five hours on Saturday to reach the far-flung mountainous area of Khakhay Kandaw.
Once there, the jirga drew a boundary line to distribute the land between the rival tribes and made them swear that they would honour the decision.
The jirga also suggested imposition of heavy fine on violation of the jirga decision by any side.
Source: Dawn
Date:7/8/2007
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