CJ takes suo motu notice of Shikarpur jirga

Jirga in Wazirabad town of Shikarpur district had passed a decision regarding a Karo-Kari case.

ISLAMABAD:

Chief Justice Tassaduq Hussain Jillani has taken suo motu notice of an illegal jirga in Wazirabad town of Shikarpur district, wherein a decision was passed regarding a Karo-Kari case.

The suo motu was taken on a March 19 newspaper editorial which stated that two women of the Mahar tribe had allegedly been killed by their parents for having ‘illicit relations’ with men of the Jagirani tribe.

The Jagiranis were fined a total of Rs 2.4 million for ‘kidnapping’ and ‘having illicit relations’ with the women. The jirga was apparently held to settle a dispute, but while both parties accepted its decision, astonishingly, no one was penalised for murdering the women. Additionally, an MNA, PML-F’s Ghous Baksh Mahar, presided over the jirga.

“Let the matter be placed before the court in Karachi on Thursday,” the order reads.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 20^th, 2014.