It’s just another day for you & me in paradise
Confronted between tribal customs and religious edicts, jirga’s hv decided in favor of tribal traditions. Why are tribal traditions considered to be superior over religious commandments? Why are the political-right silent when their tribal traditions are in clear violations of Islamic values? Is collective punishment permitted by Islam for crimes such as murder?
http://www.jang.com.pk/thenews/may2005-daily/25-05-2005/national/n5.htm
Jirga executes two murderers
HANGU: Two men accused of murdering a taxi driver were executed by a firing squad on Tuesday on the orders of a Jirga in Orakzai Agency, witnesses said. The two accused, Taj Muhammad and Muhammad Omar, were gunned down in the presence of scores of tribesmen, resident Shahid Khayal Muhammad told AFP. “They were executed in front of us and scores of other people also watched it,” Khayal said. The pair and another man who has not been captured were sentenced to death by the Jirga for allegedly killing cab driver Muhammad Ayub two weeks ago, he said. The relatives of the driver petitioned their case before the tribal elders and named the alleged killers. After a brief hearing the Jirga announced the death penalties. A government official in Orakzai district confirmed the shooting. “The incident has occurred in Orakzai’s Dabori village, and we are preparing an official report on it,” Rafiullah told AFP.
Next day, editorial published by DAWN laments jirga decision…
http://www.dawn.com/2005/05/26/ed.htm
Flawed precepts
IN yet another gruesome example of tribal justice, two men have been publicly executed by a firing squad in Orakzai Agency for allegedly killing a taxi driver, while a third, accused in the same murder, failed to turn up at the jirga that pronounced the verdict. The jirga stated that if the absconding accused was not produced before the council, his uncle would be executed in his place. It is flawed judgments such as these that raise questions about the social legitimacy of the country’s tribal councils that have, in effect, created a parallel legal system. Tribal councils are now an anachronistic institution. In the past, they might have performed useful functions, but under the changed circumstances, their credibility is being questioned. Those who man them might think they are operating in remote areas, protected by their isolation, but their verdicts are picked up by the print and electronic media.
And, as an increasing number of press reports indicate, instead of adjudicating between right and wrong, many such forums in the country are guilty of abusing a wide range of human rights. By sanctioning gang-rape, child marriages, and collective punishment in order to redress local grievances, they are striking at the very roots of civil society and regressing to an era when state institutions were unknown and national boundaries had yet to be demarcated. Obviously, in a place like Orakzai and others that are far removed from the national mainstream, it is to be expected that tribal forums would have a mediatory role to play in settling quarrels. But surely it is about time the government took a stricter view of the serious anomalies that exist in this perverse system of justice and implemented measures to remove them. True, its own ranks consist of many politicians who, as products of feudalism, patronize the jirga system. However, this should not prevent the government from setting parameters for the functions of these councils so that their actions are kept within the ambit of federal law and do not, in any way, infringe on human rights and dignity.