Mardan and girls for sale should be banned: Draconian tradition of Sawara

Society Pakistan & World Affairs
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This is awful. Ok so a woman marries her lover, and jirga decides that the husband must buy a girl as “compensation”. Shameful Indeed.

My hats off to Samar Minallah, project director of Ethnomedia, for talking against this draconian tradition.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?page=2006\04\17\story_17-4-2006_pg1_4

Swara girl decreed by jirga rejected
PESHAWAR: A family has refused to accept a thirteen-year-old girl as ‘Swara’ and demanded a replacement, saying the girl was mentally upset and a minor.

Bibi Jan was bought by a family for Rs 53,000 to be given as compensation to a family whose girl had eloped with a member of their family. However, the recipient family rejected Jan, demanding a ‘healthier’ girl be given to them. Jan was given as compensation following a jirga decision in Rusthum in Mardan district that had directed Afsar Ali of Shahbaz Gari to hand over a girl to the family of Gul Sanga of Rusthum. Since Ali had neither a sister nor a close relative, the jirga ordered him to buy a girl and then hand her over to the Sanga family.

Sajjid, a cousin of Ali, helped implement the jirga decision by purchasing Jana from Nothia Bazzar in Peshawar. Samar Minallah, the project director of Ethnomedia, which researches cases of Swara, has held the local police responsible for the incident. javed afridi

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Re: Mardan and girls for sale should be banned: Draconian tradition of Sawara

Its being discussed in the society forum as well. True very bad triadition, inshallah we will get rid of it.

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Re: Mardan and girls for sale should be banned: Draconian tradition of Sawara

It hasn't been gotten rid off in the last 1000 years. It may take another 500, before something could be done about this pathetic practice.

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The only way such laws/jirgas can be dissolved is by providing "real" justice thru courts without any hindrance otherwise jirga/panchayat will remain the prevailing justice system as it is much more "approachable/available".

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yeah these traditions should be banned and government should punish all those who are into this.

similar incident happened near mianwali-khushab.

Minor sisters pay for brother’s lust; Vani raises head in Khushab

By Our Correspondent

MIANWALI, April 16: Another case of notorious vani tradition has been reported from a remote area of Khushab district where a political influential allegedly enforced jury order at gunpoint.

The incident which took place in Bandial village a couple of days ago, was reported to the local media on Saturday evening by two villagers and ‘witnesses’ — Khan Bahadur and Zainul Abdin. They also filed applications with local administration to seek its intervention to save two minor girls.

According to their application, Rehmatullah s/o Ghulam Muhammad, cobbler by profession, married his co-villager, Mst Shehnaz, d/o blacksmith Ghulam Muhammad, against the will of their parents a month ago.

Girl’s father approached village strongman Malik Muhammad Yar Bandial and sought his help.

As it was not difficult for the Malik to decide the matter between his ‘menials’, he summoned groom’s father Ghulam Muhammad to face a ‘punchayat’ comprising one and a half dozen people. The two applicants also gave names of each jury member.

They claimed that Malik Bandial, holding a gun, forced Ghulam Muhammad to accept the jury decision to the effect that he would pay Rs 180,000 as fine to father of Shehnaz besides giving the hands of his two daughters — Rehana (seven) to Muhammad Ramzan (eight) s/o Hafiz Dost Muhammad Lohar and Amna (11) to Muhammad Afzal (28 and already married) s/o of Ghulam Muhammad Lohar.

“After hearing the verdict cobbler Ghulam Muhammad gathered courage to reject it but was forced to accept it when Malik Bandial pointed his gun at him. Maulvi Muhammad Eissab, Imam of Masjid Zakir Wali, solemised nikkah of the minor girls,” they said.

On Malik Bandial’s order, they said, consummation of Amna’s marriage would take place on April 20, while Rehana would leave with her husband after attaining puberty.

http://www.dawn.com/2006/04/17/nat7.htm

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^^ These Jirgas and Penchayats should be arrested just like the one in case of Mukhtaran Bibi.

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One would have hoped the MMA government in NWFP/ "Pakhtunkhwa" would have done something about this practice, in all the years they have been in power now.

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Re: Mardan and girls for sale should be banned: Draconian tradition of Sawara

Vani girls ‘divorced’ as police raid Khushab village

By Our Correspondent

MIANWALI, April 17: In an early Monday morning operation Khushab police saved two minor girls who were made victim of vani custom because their brother had lured a village girl away.

A heavy police contingent raided Bandial village and recorded the statement of minor girls and their hapless father.

Police also raided the ‘dera’ of jury head Malik Muhammad Yar Bandial who was reportedly missing. Other people who attended the Punchayat summoned the grooms and made them ‘divorce’ the minor sisters orally and in writing.

The proceedings started at midnight and ended early Monday.

Khushab DPO Javed Aslam said the action was taken after reports that Malik Bandial had forced his menial, cobbler Ghulam Muhammad, to accept the jury verdict to the effect that he would pay Rs180,000 as fine to the father of Shehnaz, who eloped with his son, besides giving the hands of his two daughters — Rehana (7) to Muhammad Ramzan (8) and Amna (11) to Muhammad Afzal (28 and already married).

The DPO said a case u/s 310-A & 109 PPC against all those involved in the crime had been registered.

HRCP: The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan meanwhile expressed shock over the jury verdict which showed that the brutal custom remained deeply entrenched despite tall claims of the government.

HRCP secretary-general Syed Iqbal Haider said here in a press statement that it had already spoken out against the holding of tribal jirgas and the license given to them to decide punishments in which the vulnerable were most often made victims.

He said that the police only confined themselves to arranging ‘divorce’ between the girls and their ‘husbands’ which was not a sufficient legal step.

http://www.dawn.com/2006/04/18/nat15.htm

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No one has balls to stand upto right thing, guess he was raised in same tradition and any religious teaching had no effect on him.

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yeah true so whats your point anyway.

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Oh well! In this case Punjab Police had balls and they took care of the issue.

I am hoping Frontier police will arrest the culprits in Mardan too.

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well they are "law enforcing agency" and they did it only after being reported, no? I meant to say none of the people who were involved in all this saga had balls to standup for the right!

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Re: Mardan and girls for sale should be banned: Draconian tradition of Sawara

SWABI: Need stressed to eradicate Swara

By Our Correspondent

SWABI, April 18: There is an urgent need to eradicate the Pukhtun tradition of Swara and people, especially jirga members and ulema, must discourage the un-Islamic custom, speakers at a seminar said.

The seminar held here on Tuesday was attended by jirga members, religious scholars, lawyers, journalists and representatives of local governments.

The event was organised by an Islamabad-based NGO.

A jirga member, Rafiq Khan, said that the jirga members had pledged among themselves that they would never settle a dispute through the unjust Swara custom. “We promised that we will not settle any dispute on the basis of Swara”, he declared.

“Once there was a demand for 14 Swaras in a dispute but we settled it by imposing a fine amounting to Rs20 million on offenders. Swara was diplomatically excluded from the settlement.”

Other jirga members attributed the deep roots of the custom on illiteracy and said that education would help eliminate such unjust traditions. They praised the role of NGOs in creating public awareness.

Prof Izhar said that Swara was against the norms of Islam and it should be discouraged, adding that everybody had a role to play in discouraging the custom.

Maulana Habibul Akbar said that the government and the judiciary were responsible for uprooting the practice from the Pukhtun society.

District councillor Shahfqat Rani said that the local government would pass a resolution against the custom of Swara in the next council meeting.

She said that vicitimising sisters or daughters for settling disputes of any kind was unjust as it encouraged substitution instead of awarding punishment to the real culprit.

Several nazims called for launching a campaign against Swara in rural areas as it was mostly people from these areas that first killed each other and then settled their disputes through the custom.

http://www.dawn.com/2006/04/19/local26.htm

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Launching campaigns is good for public awareness. However in this case Peshawar police should go and catch the jirga and others who were responsible for swara.