Tribal enmity: Jirga resolves 34-year-old feud

The Lasharis and the Gorchanis had each allegedly killed a member of the other tribe

SUKKUR: A long-running feud between the Lashari and Gorchani tribesmen was resolved by a jirga in Adam Khan Panhwar village near Jacobabad on Friday night.

A jirga was held in Adam Khan Panhwar village under the leadership of former Sindh minister Mir Manzoor Panhwar to resolve a 34-year-old bloody dispute between Lashari and Gorchani tribesmen. It was attended by Syed Nabi Shah Jillani, Imam Bux Gorchani, Sardar Shahnawaz Umrani and PPP Jacobabad general secretary Liaquat Lashari, among others.

In 1980, Eiden Lashari, a resident of Eiden Khan Lashari village in the Jafferabad district of Balochistan, was kidnapped by dacoits in Jacobabad and killed in an exchange of fire between the dacoits and the police. The Lashari tribesmen blamed the then DSP Abdul Hakeem Gorchani, who was leading the police party, for Eiden's death. The Gorchani tribe subsequently sent a reconciliatory delegation to the Lasharis to sort out the matter but the Lasharis refused and finally killed DSP Gorchani in 2000.

The jirga heard the grievances of both the parties at length and, after a long discussion, found both the sides guilty of killing one person each. They were each fined Rs800,000 for the murders. The Lashari tribesmen were also fined Rs500,000 for sending away the Gorchani delegation and Rs200,000 for registering an FIR against a Gorchani elder. With the fines for the murders cancelling each other out, the Lasharis were ordered to pay the Gorchanis Rs700,000 in two equal instalments. Accepting the verdict of the jirga, both the parties promised to withdraw their cases against each other.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 9^th, 2014.