A Press Release from National Commission on the Status of Women (NCSW), forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC)
A two-judge bench comprising Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry and Justice Tariq Parvez, which had taken up the petition of National Commission on the Status of Women (NCSW), filed by its chairperson Anis Haroon and others, decided to issue notices to Attorney General Maulvi Anwarul Haq as well as respondents, including secretaries of law and interior and chief secretaries of the four provinces and Gilgit-Baltistan.
An identical petition filed by Samar Minallah against Swara, a custom in which girls and women are exchanged to settle disputes through jirga, will be clubbed with the NCSW’s petition. The court office will announce a date for the hearing later.
Ms Haroon informed the court that 87 jirgas had been held in Sindh last year alone in which 26 girls and women had been exchanged for settling disputes. Ironically, she lamented, district administrations were not taking interest in taking action against those involved in violation of the fundamental rights of women.
The NCSW petition has cited the Haripur jirga trial of June 7, 2011, on whose order a middle-aged woman, Shehnaz Bibi, was ruthlessly dragged out of her home by the jirga team and forced to parade naked on the street as punishment for an alleged crime of her sons.
Similarly, on an ex-parte jirga decision on June 21 last year in Bari Kot village in Swat, Ms Shazia was murdered by her husband Muhammad Saeed and others on the suspicion of his wife`s alleged illicit relationship with his brother. The petition requested the court to declare that the jirga system was a parallel judicial system because it assumed the powers of civil and criminal courts to implement its own orders. It also urged the court to hold null and void actions taken, proceedings conducted and orders passed by any jirga, panchayat or similar bodies and ordered appropriate actions against people who participated, aided or abetted illegal activities.
The petition sought court’s directives for the respondents to frame, amend and implement constitutional provisions and penal laws relating to illegal practices of jirga.
It said: “Such illegal practices being carried out in different parts of the country with impunity violate the state laws and fundamental rights of its citizens and also jeopardise state position with regard to international treaties to which Pakistan is a signatory.
“The practice of jirga also contravenes Articles 4, 8, 9, 10, 10(a), 14, 25, 34 and 37 of the Constitution which guarantees legal protection, right to enjoy life, liberty and justice to the citizens of Pakistan and to be treated in accordance with the law.
Courtesy: DAWN News
Issued by, Tahira Noor, manager, media/communication/advocacy, National Commission on the Status of Women (NCSW), she can be contacted at; noor.tahira@gmail.com
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