Police said they arrested 11 jirga members on Wednesday, including a nikah khwan, for allegedly declaring two minor girls as vani while settling a dispute between two families.
Police said Taj Pari, the daughter-in-law of Lal Khan from Chita Bata, went missing from her home about four months ago. Her in-laws lodged an FIR against Sharab Khan, the son of Abdul Manan of the same village over Pari’s disappearance.
The woman later appeared before a court of a civil judge and clarified she had neither eloped nor been kidnapped. Pari told the judge she moved to her parents’ home in a neighbouring village when she could no longer tolerate the behavior of her in-laws. She also successfully filed for divorce in a court.
However, Lal Khan and his family members continued to harass Sharab Khan and his brother Malang Khan.
Quoting Malang, the police said Lal Khan and his accomplices kept threatening them with dire consequences, and forced them to attend a jirga.
The police added the jirga members decided to settle the dispute by imposing a fine of Rs800,000 on Sharab Khan and proceeded to declare his eight-year-old daughter and seven-year-old niece as vani. As per the jirga’s decision, a nikah khwan married the two underage girls off to Behram Khan, son of Ehsanul Haq, and Atiqullah, son of Khaista Khan.
However, the police said the girls were not sent to the homes of their husbands due to their age and the rukhsati was deferred till a later date.
Published in The Express Tribune, November 27th, 2014.
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