Forced decisions: Two sisters allegedly commit suicide to avoid jirga ruling

The jirga decided that the women must return to their marital homes.


Zulfiqar Ali July 09, 2013
According to father of the girls, Bashira and Parveen had been unwilling to return to Daral and Kalo, says police. PHOTO: FILE

DERA ISMAIL KHAN:


The bodies of two sisters, who allegedly killed themselves following a jirga’s decision, were found on Monday.  


The women reportedly jumped into the Chashma Right Bank Canal in Parowa, DI Khan last week on Thursday when a jirga decided both the sisters who were unhappily married to two brothers would have to return to their husbands, a Parowa police station official said.

According to the police, Bashira, 32, and Parveen, 25, were married to two brothers, Kalo and Daral, respectively, but were separated and lived with their parents for the past one year. The jirga brought about a compromise between the girls’ father and their husbands, stating the women must return to their marital homes.

The sisters, however, were unhappy with this decision. Their father Khuda Bakhash told the police his daughters were missing when he returned home on Thursday. The worried family started a search for Bashira and Parveen who had been spotted by locals heading towards the canal. However, the search was unsuccessful and Bakhash suspected his daughters might have felt compelled to end their own lives because of the jirga’s unfavourable ruling.

On Monday, their bodies were found in the Chashma Right Bank Canal.

The Parowa police official said according to Bakshash, Bashira and Parveen had been unwilling to return to Daral and Kalo. However, the police intend to investigate the cause of death further.

The official did not reveal the details of those who participated in the jirga other than it was mostly local elders.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 10th, 2013.

COMMENTS (4)

kamran | 10 years ago | Reply

sorry reporting? Misjudgement? Of what? You would not have been able to offer condolences to grieved family without this sorry reporting. Such a regressive thinking prevails among muslims in manhatten??? This is the real lack of judgement and real reflection of myopic thinking. Not a word of condemnation for those who passed a judgement on someone's life over and above the law. And where is sensationalization? Can you mention the exact words taht you feel are sensationalizing?? I feel sorry for muslims abroad.

Zubair | 10 years ago | Reply

Such a sorry state of affairs...Imagine what these girls would have been going through :(

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