Culprits caught: Five-year-old allegedly given in Swara

 The National Assembly had earlier passed the Prevention of Anti-Women Practices 

(Criminal Law Amendment) Act 2011. PHOTO: FILE

MATTA: A case of Swara surfaced on Tuesday wherein a five-year-old girl was allegedly married off to settle a dispute in Baz Khela village of Matta tehsil.

Police said they arrested five members of a jirga along with the nikkah khawan who took the decision. “The jirga, which was convened last week, gave five-year-old Shah Mina, daughter of Sherzada, to be married off to Habibullah, son of Mohammad Iqbal,” a police official told reporters. “We arrested all five members of the jirga along with the nikkah khawan after receiving information from our sources about the incident,” he added.

After arresting the jirga members and parents of the girl and boy, police registered a case against them.

On Monday, two tribal jirgas in Kalam ordered five girls be handed over under swara to settle family disputes. Similarly last week, four girls were given away by two jirgas in Kalam.
Swara, an ancient custom, allows girls, including minors to be married – against their will – to men of rival families to settle disputes.

In 2011, the National Assembly (NA) passed The Prevention of Anti-Women Practices (Criminal Law Amendment) Act, which declared swara among other oppressive social practices unlawful. The bill had been stuck for three years prior to its passing, first in various NA committees and then the house itself.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 23^rd, 2013.