Pannu Aqil jirga: Apex court orders DPO of Sukkur to submit report

So far only two accused arrested in the case of the barter of 12 girls.

SUKKUR:

The Supreme Court has ordered the District Police Officer (DPO) of Sukkur to appear on May 27 with a report about the Pannu Aqil jirga that ordered the barter of 12 girls.

The girls were reportedly exchanged to resolve a dispute between two clans over the murder of four people. Even though three weeks have passed, the Raza Goth police have only managed to arrest one person while another voluntarily handed himself over to the authorities.

The jirga was held in Mohammad Ibrahim Mahar village near Pannu Aqil on April 30 between the Mahars. Landlords Mohammad Ibrahim Mahar and Mohammad Murad Mahar presided over it, and fined the Paryal Mahar group Rs250,000 besides ordering it to hand over twelve girls in compensation to the Alan Mahar group.

Both groups reportedly accepted the verdict and they were making arrangements to solemnise the Nikkah of the Paryal Mahar girls with the Alan Mahar boys. But the information was leaked to the police, and the groups were forced to go into hiding.

On May 7, Paryal Mahar, along with his wife and four daughters, appeared before the DPO of Shikarpur, Junaid Shaikh, who sent him to the Sukkur DPO because the jirga was held in his jurisdiction.

The DPO presented them to the media on a Saturday night, and disclosed that they would be produced before the court on the following Monday. However Paryal and his family were produced before the Pannu Aqil civil judge on the Tuesday. In their statements, Paryal and his family confirmed that the jirga took place but denied the barter. Paryal said that he was ordered to pay Rs2.2 million, of which he has paid Rs1.7 million.

Later, the DPO formed an inquiry committee headed by Pannu Aqil SPO Qalandar Bux Soomro, with Sadhuja SPO Badar Bhutto, Raza Goth SHO Amanullah Shah and SIOs Ghulam Murtaza Malik and Atta Mohammad Abbasi. According to the report, not only was the jirga held but it also ordered the barter as compensation for the murders. But they failed to enforce the verdict because the matter was taken up by the media and the police intervened.

Meanwhile, investigation officer Ghulam Murtaza Malik of the Raza Goth police informed The Express Tribune that two accused - Mir Mohammad Mahar and Paryal Mahar - have been arrested. He said that they were produced before the Pannu Aqil civil judge, who remanded them to police custody till May 29.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 27^th, 2011.