Daily Times

Why is a certain individual given more value and respect than other members of a tribe, when that individual only has age, a comparatively better home or a once in a lifetime event to his name? Why are such individuals acceded to positions of power? To be able to make life and death decisions? And why do members of a group entrust their fates to this individual without question?

What gives such a person the right to dispense justice? How is it legally justified that the Chieftain of any tribe is able to make a decision in his sham court, when there are laws promulgated by the parliament in our country, and it takes years of education and training for a person to legally qualify as a judge.

Do societal norms take precedence over the laws promulgated by the State? And are ancient traditions superior to the laws of the state? Why is it that members of a tribe follow certain orders, and unjustified sentences passed by certain holy or revered individuals?

What gives the Chieftain of a certain tribe the right and the authority to act as the judge and the jury; to sentence an individual and in many cases issue drastic sentences, authorising mass murders and rapes of the accused and their families?

Do societal norms take precedence over the laws promulgated by the State? And are ancient traditions superior to the laws of the state? Why is it that members of a tribe follow certain orders, and unjustified sentences passed by a certain holy or revered (in the eyes of the tribal members) individual? Who decides if the sentence passed by this Chieftain is according to the nation’s laws, when his followers follow him without hesitation?

What gives this person the divine standing that he considers himself above the law? Are we living in the stone ages; absent any code of conduct? Is it moral to blindly follow any person who proclaims himself to be of the divine?

Why do tribal’s follow the unjustified decisions of their tribal chief?  In this day and age, when there are laws and manuscripts clearly pointing in the opposite direction.

In our country do the laws of man take precedence over the laws of God? Aren’t divine laws taken from our religious scripture meant to be eternal, constant and unchanging? So why do the members of a tribe look up to certain individuals when they have guidance from religion and the laws of the state? Why don’t they use appropriate forums before entrusting their lives to a single person? Why doesn’t due process mean anything for Pakistan’s tribal people?

The writer is a corporate lawyer and an alumnus of SOAS, University of London. He specialises in corporate governance issues and operates a law practice in Lahore called Sami Shah & Partners with offices in Toronto, Canada and Palos Verdes, California, USA. He can be reached at sami@samishahpartners.com

Published in Daily Times, October 9^th 2017.