A man accused of murdering a rival clansman has requested chief justice Peshawar High Court to prevent his daughter from becoming vani.
The father, Saeed Malook of Peeza Panjar village, Battagram, told The Express Tribune that a tribal council had decided to give the girl as vani to compensate for the loss of life, despite the fact that his family had paid blood money.
Malook, along with his two brothers and relatives, was accused of murdering Mani Khan, 20, from the same village in 1996.
“After the murder, I became an absconder, while my brother and other relatives were arrested by the police,” Malook said.
They paid Rs1,30,000 as blood money to Mani’s family and signed a reconciliation deed in court, he added.
A jirga was held in the village to settle the dispute, with jirga members deciding to give his daughter Irum* as vani to the rival tribe in his absence.
“The jirga declared my six-month-old daughter as vani and decided she would marry a boy from the rival clan, who was three at the time.”
When he returned to the village some three years back, family members informed him about the jirga’s decision, “I refused to accept it as it was against religious injunctions.”
Malook, who belongs to the second largest tribe in Battagram, said he left his daughter in the care of his relatives in Rawalpindi after jirga members and Mani’s family began to pressurise him to hand over Irum as vani.
“My opponents, including Naubat Khan, Khaesta Khan, Taj Mehrin and Pazir Khan have threatened me to forcibly take away my daughter.” The jirga wants to give Irum to Khaesta’s son.
Replying to a question, Malook said, “Irum, who is now 16, does not want to become vani and has warned me of committing suicide if I ever accede to the jirga’s demand.
Malook, a construction worker, has requested the police and district administration to take steps to prevent his daughter from becoming the victim of an illegal custom.
When approached for comments, SHO Pazang Battagram Amjad Khan was not available. The police officials on duty expressed their ignorance about the case, but they said they would investigate the matter and take action against the accused.
name has been changed to protect identity
Published in The Express Tribune, March 20th, 2012.
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The court must support the father who is trying to prevent his daughter from a horrible tribal custom. Whether the blood money was given or not, it is immaterial because the girl is totally innocent and must not be made to pay for what her father did.