K-P IGP orders security for ‘Ghag’ victim

Family claims they are receiving threats from suspect who is in prison

PESHAWAR: The top cop of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) has ordered security for the family of a girl who was a victim of an archaic tribal custom, Ghag.

Per custom, Ghag is where a man lays claim to marriage with a girl and no one else is allowed to send proposals for the girl. Marriage disputes in K-P and tribes can lead to tribal feuds and even armed clashes which can then last for generations.

While the tradition was outlawed by the provincial assembly in around four years ago under the Elimination of the Custom of Ghag Act 2013, the tribal custom has managed to survive in many parts of K-P.

K-P IGP Salahuddin Khan on Monday took notice of an incident of Ghag, reported by a section of the local press, where a girl was victimised under the custom in the Katlang area of Mardan.

Khan directed Mardan Regional Police Officer Muhammad Saud to provide security to affected girl and her family.

In the recent incident of Ghag reported from Katlang, the brother of an affected girl demanded that the provincial government provide security to his sister and the rest of his family as well from a man identified as Rab Nawaz - the claimant of his sister’s hand.

Although Nawaz was arrested by the police and sent to jail, the family claims they have been receiving threats from the man in prison.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 20^th, 2017.