PAKISTAN: Jirga orders the murder of a 16-year-old girl 

Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information regarding the murder of a 16-year-old girl following a Jirga calling for her death for having dishonoured her tribe. Ms. Bashi of the Luhar tribe left her parents home to marry Mr. Munaware of the Otho tribe. When her father and several relatives approached the elder of their tribe, Mr. Mir Hassan Luhar, he called upon a Jirga of the eminent persons of his tribe. The Jirga at first found that the girl must be returned to her tribe. In a second hearing it decided that the girl must be killed. Accordingly, the girl’s father and six other relatives took the girl to a nearby canal where they suffocated her and buried her body.

A First Information Report has been registered in relation to this case, but as all of the perpetrators are currently in hiding, no arrests have been made. Thus, justice has not been served in this heinous and barbaric crime.

Honour killings are an extreme form of violence against women and have claimed the lives of tens of thousands of women in Pakistan. It is only with continued pressure on the Pakistan government to implement policy to prevent and punish this dreadful crime that the practice may eventually be stopped.

Your urgent action is required in this matter. Please send a letter to the relevant authorities and request them to arrest the alleged perpetrators as soon as possible and conduct an independent investigation into this case. Please also urge the Sindh State government to take genuine action to prevent honour killings in the future.

Urgent Appeals Desk,
Asian Human Rights Commission

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DETAILED INFORMATION:

Name of victim: Ms Bashi (16), daughter of Deedar Luhar (one of the perpetrators), Luhar caste
Alleged perpetrators:
1. Ghous Bux, son of Khathoor, grand-father of the victim
2. Noor Mohammad, son of Khathoor, brother of the victim’s grand-father
3. Deedar, son of Ghous Bux, father of the victim
4. Ghafar, son of Ghous Bux, uncle of the victim
5. Ghous Bux, son of Dadoo, relative of the victim
6. Sulaiman, son of Dodo, relative of the victim
7. Kaoro, son of Fareed, relative of the victim
All from Luhar caste, near Army Public School, Shikarpur District, Sindh Province, Pakistan
Complainant: Sub-Inspector Abdul Hameed Khakhrani, In-charge of CIA Shikarpur
Witnesses:
Seven Police Constables
1. Mohammad Panjal
2. Ghulam Shabir
3. Mohammad Usman
4. Mukhtiar Khan
5. Saleem
6. Abdul Latif
7. Sadar-u-ddin
8. Khair Mohammad, Driver
All posted at Stuart Gunj Police Station
Date of incident: Night of 16/17 September 2005
Place of incident: Larai Mohalla, near Eid Gah, Shikarpur City, Shikarpur District, Sindh Province, Pakistan
Case reported on: 19 September 2005 at Police Station Stuart Gunj

Details of the incidents:

On 13 September 2005, the victim, Ms. Bashi, from the Luhar tribe, left her parents’ home in order to marry Mr. Munaware of the Otho tribe. Ms. Bashi and Mr. Munaware were neighbours and had fallen in love.

However, according to the perpetrators the young victim’s actions had brought extreme shame and dishonour to the tribe to which she belonged. In order to rid themselves of this shame the perpetrators believed that their honour must be washed with the blood of the girl. Therefore, a few days after Ms. Bashi had left to marry, her father called several of his relatives (mentioned as the perpetrators) who were living in a nearby village and they advised him to relate the incident to the elder of their tribe, Mr. Mir Hassan Luhar, who also lives in the same city.

Having heard the story, Mr. Mir Hassan called upon a Jirga of the eminent persons of his tribe, in which all the perpetrators participated. The Jirga found that the girl’s actions had dishonoured her tribe and that she must be returned at once from the Otho tribe. After several threats were made against the Otho tribe, the girl was eventually returned. Having secured the girl, the above-mentioned perpetrators took the girl to their village near the Army public School in Shikarpur, and once again a Jirga was held in which it was decided that the girl must be killed.

As a result, on the night of September 16/17, the alleged perpetrators took the girl from her home to a nearby canal. There they suffocated her to death and buried her body on the bank of the canal.

On September 19, Central Investigation Authority (CIA) In-charge, Mr. Abdul Hamid Khakhrani was informed of this incident and immediately registered a First Information Report (FIR No. 69/2005 under seconds 302, 201, 34 PPC (Pakistan Penal Code)) on the part of the state. Mr. Abdul Hamid then took the above-mentioned witnesses, who are all police constables, to the place where he had been informed the dead body had been buried. Having reached there they saw some ten armed men of the Luhar tribe were on watch and were positioning themselves into a firing position. After exchanging several bullets, the men from the Luhar tribe fled and the police exhumed the dead body.

With the story having gone public in the local news, the alleged perpetrators have gone under ground. The police are still attempting to arrest the perpetrators, but this has been severely hampered due to their unknown whereabouts.

It is apparent from this case that the whole incident was planned and orchestrated by the elder of the Luhar tribe, Mr. Mir Hassan Luhar. The victim’s family is however, equally at fault of this crime due to their having carried out the attack directly.

It has since been learnt that Mr. Munaware Otho has gone underground, due to fear of retaliation. There have also been no efforts made by the Otho tribe to reconcile the matter with the Luhars.

In Pakistan, especially in Sindh Province, one may find a myriad of cases of such nature where the Jirga is used to bring so called justice to persons considered to have dishonoured their tribe. Additionally, although there has been no sign of consequential rivalry between the two tribes to date, many such cases eventually result in the break out of acute tribal wars.

SUGGESTED ACTION:

Please send a letter to the relevant authorities listed below voicing your strong condemnation of the decision passed by the Jirga and the actions of the perpetrators who took the life of an innocent child.

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To support this case, please click here: SEND APPEAL LETTER