Daily Times

Three women have been executed on the orders of a tribal Jirga in Jammu Landiwal near Darra Adamkhel, without ascertaining if there was any sin committed by them, only because there was a man who had a telltale story to relate and there were other men who were keen to follow his narration. Blindfolded, the women were easily sentenced to death. What followed their murder was a hue and cry condemning the incident and uproar to bring the criminals to justice. Why the rant against honour killing when the system that encourages it has been preserved over the years? Call it negligence or deliberate, the truth is that Pakistan has never consciously tried to develop a civilized culture where women are respected and people are treated like human beings. The execution of three women is a shocking story, yet not unique. How can it be treated as a lamentable story when society is still given to parochial cultural norms? Because there had been no effort to modernize the inhuman system, where two different rules applies for men and women and where the power to be is considered the domain of those with brawn, no reason is left to even feel sorry at such gruesome incidents.

It is extremely important that FATA and its adjoining areas are bought into the mainstream. They are after all our people. Having used them as the bulwark for our handiwork of jihad, it is perhaps time to consider them equals. The governing system installed by the British in the tribal areas has lost its value and relevance. The Frontier Crimes Regulation, which enshrines collective punishment and gives the political agent ubiquitous power, has to be done away with. No country wishing for social peace can afford to have two parallel systems of justice. Even in India, at places where the Panchayat system still exists, it is linked to the country’s legal system, so that the final verdict is derived through the courts. Why can’t we have one legal system across the country? What is the point in jailing the culprits of honour killing when another incident of the same or even a more brutal nature reappears after the lapse of a few months and the cycle of incarceration and condemnation of the act is repeated ad nauseam? The courts have been passing orders against the jirga system, telling the government to dismantle the persisting traditional system in FATA and all those areas where it is still alive. Alas! Every such order has fallen on deaf ears. This complacency and indifference about the socio-economic situation of places like FATA would eventually become very costly. Aren’t we already paying a heavy price for this long standing negligence? It is time to act rather than merely lament. *