Jirga orders Wani of two little nieces of a man over love marriage

It is the 21st century but many in our society are still living in medieval times with no concept of human dignity, rights and freedoms. And it is the women who are main victims of this practice.

The latest news in this connection was reported by Zafarullah Bhutto from Ghotki for 24NewsHD TV channel on Tuesday, which said that a jirga in Daharki tehsil of the district declared a couple opting for love marriage as karo-kari – a tag which entails punishments leading up to deaths in Sindh.

But the jirga didn’t stop there as it also decided that two nieces of Abdul Shakoor Mehar should be handed over to the girl’s family under the inhuman custom of wani. In case of a failure, they would be expelled from the village. 

Wani is a mean of compromise in case of a dispute between two parties where girls, mostly little, are given to the allegedly aggrieved family just like the girl’s family in this case.

However, Zahida Khatoon – Mehar’s sister – is not ready to accept this injustice. She says her brother had tied knot with Sitara Mehar a year ago through court marriage performed in Ghotki.

This independent choice of by the two made their influential relatives fuming as they turned into their enemy, Zahida added.

She says the jirga has now ordered them to hand her daughters – six-year-old Iqra and five-year-old Aqsa – but she will never give them to the waderas [landlords] running the show.

Zahida demanded police to provide protection, saying the wadera, Ghulam Muhammad Mehar – is threatening to expel them from their native village. 

The upper parts of Sindh – Ghotki, Jacobabad, Shikarpur and Khairpur – are notorious for inhuman traditions like karo-kari, wani and so-called honour killings.

Reports about such incidents regularly emerge from Ghotki where a total 25 women were killed for family honour in the last one year, a report compiled by 24NewsHD earlier in May said.

Later in June, the husband was axed to death and his wife injured as the in-laws attacked their house in the Dad Leghari area. 

The couple had tied knot seven months against the wishes of the girl’s family members who – her brothers and other relatives – barged into their house and carried out the brutal act.

In July, a man was killed and his wife kidnapped again only because they had married according to their own choice.

The crime was committed in the Murid Shakh area, as Ashiq Khokar and Haseena were going to Sukkur from Sadiqabad on a rickshaw because of the fear of being murdered.

But the armed men riding in a van intercepted them. The attackers first brutally injured Murid with axe and then shot him dead on the spot. Later, they fled the scene after kidnapping the girl who was also tortured during the incident.