Editorial

Seeking protection from panchayats

Marriage by choice is a human right and one that parents, panchayats, jirgas or the state cannot override.

Editorial August 18, 2013

Marriage by choice is a human right and one that parents, panchayats, jirgas or the state cannot override. PHOTO: FILE

Recently, a couple who married in court out of choice, in Rahim Yar Khan, has been on the run for their lives. The couple married without parental consent and soon thereafter, the woman’s father reported to the police that the husband had kidnapped his daughter. After a hearing in court with the couple and the woman’s father, the woman claimed that she had not been kidnapped or forced to marry. The couple is now seeking police protection after a panchayat declared the woman kari and ordered that the couple be killed for one million rupees as bounty. The culture of jirgas and panchayats across Pakistan has claimed the lives of too many young men and women, and the pressure is on the police now to get to the bottom of this case and protect the couple against all imminent harm if it is found that their lives are, indeed, in danger.

Another couple in a similar case, in Hafizabad, did not get a chance to seek police protection. Deceptively, the girl’s father called the couple over to reconcile matters. The innocent couple obliged and was soon met with fatal gunshots fired by the father. This ultimate Romeo and Juliet tragedy occurs far too often in both rural and urban areas of Pakistan. We implore the authorities in this case to deal severe punishment to the father, who so mercilessly took the lives of his own daughter and her husband.

Marriage by choice is a human right and one that parents, panchayats, jirgas or the state cannot override. The state and law-enforcement agencies must investigate the matter and come to the protection of hundreds of similar couples, who choose to exercise this right. No one should be given the freedom to override the law of the country and it is imperative that jirgas and panchayats, which attempt to take matters under their own control, are done away with. There is a crucial need for proper system of law to be put in place, covering both rural and urban areas of the country.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 19^th, 2013.

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COMMENTS (5)

gp65 | 11 years ago | Reply @Toticalling: I think you and I are on the same page. In fact I was applauding Jinnah's stand on this issue where his stand was unambiguous both in speech and action and wondering why he is not quoted on this issue when he is quoted on so many others where his stand is much more ambiguous. I think people say with some merit that Ruthi bai converted to Islam in order to marry him whereas clearly Mr. Wadi did no such thing. Not to say that I agree with the notion that Muslims men can marry non-Muslims but not Muslim women.

Toticalling | 11 years ago | Reply

@Gp65: Jinnah was a human being and as they say perfection is not in the lot of humanity. About women status he was right. It was strange that he married a non Muslim but did not agree his daughter doing the same.

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Gp65 | 11 years ago | Reply @Toticalling: Excellent point. Also, while people keep debating whether Jinnah wanted a secular Pakistan or not - an issue that can never be satisfactorily resolved iven the inconsistency in what he said at different times. But on one issue his example was clear and not subject to any confusion. Even though he disapproved of his daughter's marriage to a non- Muslim, he did not say that she had dishonoured him or try to get her knocked off? Why can people not follow his example in this regard? Why are people who announce a million rupee reward not arrested? I can understand that when the judiciary has such a big backlog people will go to jirga for justice. But surely the jirga must not have the authority to criminalize things which are considered as rights under the constitution? Nor can they prescribe punishments which differ from the constitution e.g. Karo Kari and Vanni? Any such unconstitutional rulings by jirgas must be taken cognizance by the law and order machinery and the jirga members who gave such rulings must be punished.

Toticalling | 11 years ago | Reply

Women's rights are being trampled if their decision to stand up on their feet is considered incorrect and immoral. M.A. Jinnah said it so eloquently: “No nation can rise to the height of glory unless your women are side by side with you. We are victims of evil customs. It is a crime against humanity that our women are shut up within the four walls of the houses as prisoners. There is no sanction anywhere for the deplorable condition in which our women have to live.” (Aligarh 1944) As long as women are considered only as sex objects for men, things will get worse.

adil | 11 years ago | Reply

Don't have a million rupees to educate their kids but a million can be raised to kill them for exercising standard adult franchise. Some people in Pakistan deserve to always be held back from prosperity.

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