Daily Times

MANSEHRA: Oghi Police have arrested 10 jirga members, including a cleric, who declared two girls as vani and solemnized Nikah forcibly in Mulhar village Sunday night.

“We have booked 14 jirga members and arrested 10 of them who, after declaring two girls as vani, performed their Nikah forcibly in an honour related affair,” Wajid Ali, the SHO Oghi Police Station, told reporters on Monday.

Ali said that on a tip off, he along with a police party raided a jirga ceremony in Mulhar village and arrested 10jirga members and produced them before a local judge.

Ali said that people of Rahmkot had illegally confined one Mohammad Naeem when he had gone to meet a local girl in their village Sunday night.

He said the girl was already engaged with a local resident named Mohammad Nazeer and the jirga decreed that Naeem would be married off with the girl while Nazeer’s sister would be married into the other family.

“On the decree of Jirga, the nikah of both girls was solemnized with Mohammad Naeem and Mohammad Nazeer, respectively, without their consents,” said Ali.

The SHO Oghi said the police, after lodging FIR, had arrested 10 jirga members and raids were being made for the arrest of others who were part of that unlawful jirga.

He said that those arrested including Qari Imranullah, who solemnized wedlock of both the girls separately, Maqbool ur Rehman, the father of one of the girls, Mohammad Ijaz, Shahnawaz, Shabeer Ahmad, Mohammad Sadeer, Abdul Aziz, Abdul Kareem, Mohammad Shafique and Ali Rehmand.

He said the entire episode was completed in night so that nobody could bring the issue to limelight.

“We recovered Naeem for the illegal confinement of the jirga and let him to go and lodged FIR against those involved in the unlawful activity,” he said.

The vani is an old custom in upper parts of Hazara where women or minor girls are given to rival parties in marriage to resolve honour-related enmity.