Effectiveness of jirgas?

The women’s wing of the PTI has asked Gulalai to seek forgiveness or else a jirga would be sent to her home

Pakistan’s political arena is rather unpredictable and continues to be so in what is only its second consecutive tenure of democratic leadership. Over the years, politicians have indulged in commenting on their oppositions’ lack of credibility and also assassinated their characters publicly. On August 1^st 2017, politician Ayesha Gulalai, an MNA, left the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) on allegations of harassment against PTI chairman Imran Khan. Her claims gave way to a countrywide debate on the issue of harassment and the way it should be dealt with, along with politicians indulging in their years-old tactic of playing the ‘blame game’.

Although merits of Gulalai’s accusations will be proven in time to come, the issue has once again brought forth the effectiveness of a jirga (a tribunal council) system in the country. The women’s wing of the PTI has asked Gulalai to seek forgiveness over what they call ‘unjustifiable allegations’ or else a jirga would be sent to her home as per the custom of the region she hails from, South Waziristan. On Thursday, adviser to Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister for Transport and Mass Transit Malik Shah Muhammad Khan Wazir went as far as to ask a jirga to demolish MNA Gulalai’s house in case she is proven guilty of wrongly accusing Khan of harassment, as permissible by the tribal laws in the region.

But have the PTI’s women’s wing and Wazir forgotten how a jirga works with its centuries-old system that has only proven to be more ruthless and cruel in Pakistan? Just a month ago, the same system, also known as panchayat, ordered ‘revenge rape’ near Multan. A 16-year-old girl was ordered to be raped by the brother of a 12-year-old girl who was raped by the former girl’s brother. Pakistan’s legal system has come a long way with a large majority trusting its credibility, especially after the Supreme Court’s verdict on the Panama Papers case. If politicians who have the power to influence, at least people in their own constituencies, and especially those that are affiliated with a party that promises to bring forth a ‘Naya Pakistan’ show their trust in such an antiquated and ruthless system, will it be fair to blame the lower strata of society to believe in it?

Published in The Express Tribune, August 5^th, 2017.

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