Daily Times

Influential members of a panchayat or jirga (village council) reportedly raped a girl who married the man of her choice against the wishes of her family in Tandlianwala, Faisalabad. In December 2017, the victim’s father in-law reported at police station Tandlianwala, and said, “she had tied the knot with my son on October 10 but her father, angry at the marriage, had approached the local panchayat and had called for the return of his daughter.

On the promise of sending my daughter-in-law back to my home after a proper ceremony arranged by her father, I handed her over to two members of the panchayat in the presence of villagers on November 7. Having undergone sexual violence repeatedly by three merciless panchayat members at their home, who threatened to kill her if she attempted to flee or scream, ultimately, the victim managed to escape on December 12. After reaching her husband’s home, she told the family about her ordeal.” According to the woman, police of the area are reluctant to register her case and conduct inquiry into the matter.

The local jirgas, being the hub of anti-women practices, have played havoc with the lives of girls and women. In July 2017, at village Raja Ram in central Pakistan, a Panchayat had ordered rape of a 16 year-old girl after her brother was accused of raping a 12-year-old girl.

In January last year, a 16-year-old girl, who had allegedly helped her friend run away from the village in order to escape a forced marriage, was taken from her house to an abandoned field where she was burnt to death. In 2015, in Diamir, one of the districts of Gilgit-Baltistan, a jirga barred 12,000 women from voting in elections.

Vani, a tradition to marry young girls forcibly to compensate for a crime committed by their male relatives, is the most prevalent tradition in rural Pakistan. In 2012, to settle a murder dispute between two clans, 13 girls between the ages of 4 and 16 were forced into marriage in Balochistan. Moreover, many of the women have been raped, murdered and deprived of their fundamental rights on the decrees of panchayats and jirgas across the country.

Global Gender Gap report 2017 reveals that Pakistan continues to rank second worst country for women with the rank of 143 out of 144 countries. Among many other factors responsible for this state of the affairs is the continued existence of panchayat and jirga systems in Pakistan’s social fabric, which continue their barbaric and criminal acts against women and make a mockery of rule of law with impunity and with no fear of punishment..

It shows how much detestation for women’s liberty and the misogynistic attitude of Pakistan’s patriarchal society is deep-rooted. The jirgas and panchayats have been manned by Maliks, Sardars and feudal lords, who have been influential and dominant in successive governments and controlling decision-making and policy formulating processes in Pakistan’s parliament.

Controlled and dominated by men, this outdated tribal judicial system, which authorises one person or a group of people with little knowledge of law to give death sentences and set social and cultural norms

Controlled and dominated by male members, this outdated tribal judicial system, which authorises one person or a group of people with little knowledge of law to give death and other sentences and set social, cultural and political norms, completely and clearly denies Pakistani women fundamental human rights of free-will.

Among other oppressive and inhuman customs that the systems have been practicing against women, is the practice of ‘giving away’ women especially minor girls in compensation to resolve conflicts. In most cases, quarrels whether between two people, two families or two clans, are resolved by compensation. The parties found guilty of the crime are asked to give money or a plot of land to the affected families. If the parties at fault are not able to pay money or give any property, then panchayats or jirgas compel them to sacrifice a girl, a sister or daughter, in compensation.

One of the dishonest and unjust principles of panchayats and jirgas, which use unlimited power and are not accountable and answerable to anyone, is that there is complete absence of women representation in the whole process. This is the main reason why the decrees of this patriarchal structure, which was declared illegal by the Supreme Court of Pakistan in 2006, badly affects and persecute women. They prevent them from attaining education, confine them within the four walls of their houses and promote the damaging customs of child marriage and honour killing. Therefore, the bodies can be held responsible for many of the barbaric human rights violations.

The government of Pakistan that holds the responsibility of protecting lives and providing security to its citizens has to frame new laws to abolish this unconstitutional parallel judicial system, which has been a colossal source of grave human rights violations.

The writer is an academic, and can be reached on Twitter @ARShykh

Published in Daily Times, January 9^th 2018.