Family disputes?: Three arrested as police bust ‘jirga’ for trying to barter 4 girls

Police now claim that there never was a jirga or any bartering.

SUKKUR:

The Pannu Aqil police thwarted an alleged attempt to barter four girls off to settle a matrimonial dispute late on Monday night.

The police have arrested three suspects and booked 15 others on charges of holding a jirga in Yakoob Indhar village on Sunday. However, conflicting reports confirmed by the police suggest that the entire incident was an internal dispute between two brothers.

The jirga was reportedly held to resolve a dispute between two groups of the Indhar clan. It was presided over by landlord Ali Gohar Indhar. Mir Mohammad Indhar and Shah Mohammad Indhar were there to present their cases while many members of the clan were in attendance.

After hearing both parties, Gohar supposedly ordered Mir to give up four girls from his family to be married to a group of Shah’s men. However, Mir refused to accept the verdict and the landlord and his men beat him up.

Meanwhile, the police were informed about the gathering and they arrived to raid the landlord’s house. They arrested Shah, Mir and Mir’s son, Naseem Mohammad Indhar, while the landlord managed to escape.

They are currently locked up in the Pannu Aqil cantonment police station. A FIR has been registered against fifteen people including Mir, Shah, Naseem, Jawed Indhar and the landlord, Gohar, who is in hiding.

When reporters were able to contact the landlord on the phone, he gave a different version of events. Speaking from an undisclosed location, Gohar denied having held the jirga and claimed that the case against him was politically motivated. He said that Mir and Shah are brothers and two of Mir’s daughters are already married to Shah’s sons. Mir was supposed to marry a third daughter to another one of Shah’s sons according to an earlier promise, but he backed out. Gohar said Shah came to him and complained about Mir’s refusal to honour his commitment.

As the community elder, Gohar said he summoned Mir and ordered him to fulfil his promise.

However, Mir refused and the landlord became angry and slapped him.

The Pannu Aqil police also supported the landlord’s claims. An official told The Express Tribune that Mir and Shah are brothers and have married their children twice before and had gone to the landlord to resolve a dispute about a third marriage. The police said that the brothers’ rivals took advantage of the situation and told the police that there was a jirga going on.

“We acted accordingly and arrested them,” said the official.

The Pannu Aqil civil judge placed the men in a four-day police remand. The Pannu Aqil SPO Qalandar Bux Soomro also confirmed that a jirga was never held and nor were the girls were bartered.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 22^nd, 2011.