Jirgas in Pakistan factories of brutality, vengeance their justice: Report

Islamabad: Highlighting the heinous practice of honour killings in Pakistan and the latest case involving a 19-year-old bride in Pirwadhai who was murdered after a jirga decided her fate, a report on Wednesday called the local council delivering justice as a “mob of patriarchs”, only men, which have egos and unchecked power.

“Let’s unpack jirga, a term too often glorified while it quietly devours lives whole. It isn’t some noble local council doling out justice. It’s a mob of unlettered patriarchs – yes, only men – with bloated egos and unchecked power, posing as custodians of culture. Jirgas fester in rural, tribal and feudal pockets where the law steps aside and patriarchy storms in. They claim to resolve disputes but in truth coerce settlements, always skewed toward the powerful,” Syed Namdar Ali Shah wrote in an opinion piece for Pakistan’s leading daily, The Express Tribune.

“They function in rural, tribal and feudal pockets where the law steps aside… They’re factories of brutality. Their logic is pressure. Their justice is vengeance. And the verdicts of these kangaroo courts would make medieval Europe flinch: swara, vani, karo kari, exile. They dish out cruelty like party favours and call it mediation. They treat women like bargaining chips to appease bruised male pride. While they thump their chests in the name of Islam, their rulings trample every Islamic principle of mercy, fairness and due process. Let’s detour to the fathers – the hypocrites in polished shoes and prayer caps. The ones who see sons as human and daughters as breathing burdens born to obey,” he added.

Shah writes further that the fathers believe that their son can marry anyone while daughter gets married to whoever her father chooses, often an aging cousin who is uneducated and with a temper the size of his tractor. And, if the girl dares to choose her partner or falls in love, that’s rebellion or dishonour.

“That’s a deathable crime for families drunk on ghayrat. She’s sacrificed on the altar of izzat. The kind of izzat these ghayratmand fathers and brothers flaunt – in markets, streets, homes, parks – through their lecherous stares. Spare me the lecture on honour when women are treated like livestock,” the opinion piece in The Express Tribune further stated.

The Sindh High Court imposed a ban on jirgas in 2004 and the Supreme Court echoed that in 2006. Courts impose ban, issue verdicts, however, prosecution is not their strong suit. The police have been asked multiple times to crush jigra gatherings. However, they do not want trouble and do not go to the village where a girl is awaiting a jirga decision.

“The police have been ordered time and again to crush jirga gatherings. But they don’t want trouble. They clutch their careers, comfort and cowardice while the law bleeds into the dust. They don’t reach the village where a girl awaits a jirga’s noose; they don’t show up before the grave is dug. After all, going after armed tribal councils is dangerous,” Shah elaborates.

According to the report, Pakistani police is not the only one protecting jirgas. “There’s rot in parliament too – enablers who sell their souls for votes from tribal brokers, chieftains and conservatives. They trade justice for votes, shaking hands with the devil and smiling all the way back to parliament with big smiles and bigger mandates. They love the seat more than they love justice.”

IANS