Daily Times

Tribal Jirga system is very old practice to settle the disputes between two or more than two disputants. In fact, it was used to be the council of elders or notables with agreeable level of neutrality to mull over the intricate social hassles and hammer a way out promoting reconciliation to the mutual satisfaction of disputing parties. In olden times, initially the Jirga had been common in Baloch and Pashtun tribes but incrementally found its way to Sindh of yore when the Baloch population gradually trickled down to it from neighbouring Balochistan before and during era of Talpurs rule in then Sindh. Thus gradually it permeated and became pervasive in parts of Punjab as well particularly in areas adjacent to Balochistan province predominantly populated by Baloch tribes. In FATA, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and parts of Balochistan where Pashtun population resides the Jirga system is by and large common. With passage of time this phenomenon metamorphosed and transformed into a Jirga culture almost taking the shape of a parallel judiciary with political and feudal bigwigs handing down punitive decisions against the parties at fault. This prompted apex court to take suo motu notices on a number of occasions.

A marked degeneration crept into Jirga system over a period of time. We have a large number of Jirga decisions particularly where murder, rape, Karo-Kari disputes are resolved with strange pronouncements. Some of the Jirga decisions have been found trampling upon even the bare minimum human moral standards. Resorting to Vani (giving away a girl in marriage against her will) as a penalty is in fact chilling or consenting rape victim side to do tit-for-tat against opponent party is more troubling for the human conscience. Or more so when murder of an individual with sound educational and social profile is penalized twice as compared with the penalty fixed over a murder of a person with no such profile. Despite this perversion people run after the area politicians who also wear the hat of tribally defined Sardar to help resolve from internecine to petty disputes. And a modern day Sardar has his own intriguing reasons allowing the disputes first to rage on and engulf the communities before these are sorted out. Jirga boss aim is to initially allow bloody battles between two factions so that the social structure which might pose a challenge to his Sardari fiat in the long run is weakened. In view of inordinately delayed justice from the judiciary of country that also costing people much of the finance incurred on counsels’ fee etc people consider the Jirga system fit as a Hobsons choice. News about the accused being executed first and then acquitted or in a recent report a judicial acquittal order reached jail only to find that the accused died during incarceration over a year back is depressive for populace. Besides, the glaring administrative anomalies in jails and police investigation of criminal cases unmistakably marred with corruption are some other unfortunate reasons pushing people to bank on tribal Jirga despite ills strung to it.

Few days back a bill, tabled at national legislative assembly, has been approved proposing to offer legal cover to Jirga system. Named ‘Alternate Dispute Resolution Bill 2016’ was tabled by Federal Minister for Law Mr. Zahid Hamid. The aim of the move is to create ‘Alternate Dispute Resolution’ forum to settle some twenty three ordinary nature disputes arising in society before these are taken to formal judicial platforms. Bill envisages the consent of disputant parties to the Jirga decision as essential and Jirga will have to decide the case within mandated thirty days period and will submit its report to judiciary. In case a party despite taking issue to Jirga not attending the Jirga hearings will be penalized. The bill has been passed for enforcement in federal capital whereas its implementation in federating units will be with the consent of provinces. A range of such issues are already being heard by Mohtasib (Ombudsman) offices across the country whereas disputes related to divorce and its entailing issues are already being heard in family courts. Creating a parallel forum to address the issues seems to make the family courts and Ombudsman office as redundant.

There is much confusion surrounding the suggested mechanism of composition of the Jirga. Though it is emphasized that respective high courts of provinces will have active role in Jirga composition yet mechanism to ensure the neutrality of its members will be a great challenge. How much say will be accorded to ‘female segment’ of society who feels much persecuted (at times molested) at the hands of Jirga across the country? This is the most relevant question here. Certain analysts believe that the setting of Jirga or Panchayat system supported with legal fabric is likely to proliferate tribal and feudalistic say in society. It could be inadvertent swing to legalize clout of Sardars and feudal lords who are simultaneously legislators as well. Otherwise judiciary on a number of occasions questioned the legality of Jirgas’ existence. Not surprisingly many of the members of national assembly are already involved in holding Jirgas back at their native areas. This new law will simply make their conduct of Jirga gatherings legal.

While it is appreciable that ‘national assembly’ is taking notice of the increasing number of litigations in courts which are in ‘hundreds of thousands’ with slow pace of judiciary to dispose of the same due to various reasons but why cannot there be some intellectual debate to ascertain the reasons causing the birth of social hassles and polarization amongst people. Understandably there are some socio-economic reasons with anomalous administration mainly bereft of merit are exasperating the situation. In developed countries it is customary to undertake scholarly research to debate the issues and present deductions with doable options for relevant quarters to address the same but in our country the theses carrying ‘research findings’ are hardly taken seriously at appropriate foray. In fact no one is born with a criminal fang. Rather circumstances and environment mainly make an individual to go criminally deviant in a society. And who creates such circumstances and environment should be the moot question. Certainly here lies the crux of matter requiring research and brainstorming so that the problem area is identified and fixed resulting into reduction in the increasing rate of social deviance. Absence of social justice has been pumping the sense of deprivation in the masses. Hence making the social fabric vibrant and robust will empower and strengthen the people leading to a self-reliant life independent of the Jirgas and feudal crutches. Introducing a socio-economic vision can be expected of a political leadership transparent in its dispensations. On the contrary the ruling political echelon badly mired in the unfortunate episodes questioning its conduct in governance matters, appears to have nothing to offer for public good.

Writer is freelance and presently working on a paper researching rural crime and causes