HYDERABAD: The naive parents of a victim girl in village Hussain Bhutto in Ghotki district could not understand why village chieftain took extreme action and called hurriedly jirga (tribal court) to settle a minor dispute over debt and gave verdict to give hand of the girl to a person against the liability.
HYDERABAD: The naive parents of a victim girl in village Hussain Bhutto in Ghotki district could not understand why village chieftain took extreme action and called hurriedly jirga (tribal court) to settle a minor dispute over debt and gave verdict to give hand of the girl to a person against the liability.
Reports coming from the village indicate that some armed persons of teh chieftain had kidnapped the minor girl and arranged solemnization against the girl’s will to tie a knot forcefully with a person against an unsettled debt on him.
The parents came out to record their protest against this cruel tribal system and wanted their protection.
Though the case has been registered against four accused involved in this crime and police are reportedly conducting inquiry, poor parents are afraid, passing through the traumatic situation after the incident.
The similar incident occurred in a village near Thul in Jacobabad district where a jirga imposed a fine of Rs 600,000 to settle dispute of karo kari (honour killing). The jirga under the supervision of a tribal chieftain forced the accused person to pay the fine to resolve the matter.
These reports are appearing in local Sindhi newspapers every day, showing how the customary practices are going on, with clear disregard to the laws and rules for end to traditional practices and conducting jirga.
The traditional and customary practices of violence against women in Sindh have a long history and still continued in a semi-tribal areas in Sindh. These practices remain massive impediments to the empowerment and development of women and have affected their fundamental rights to life and dignity.
Situational analysis on gender based violence (GBV) response services Sindh, a comprehensive document compiled by Strengthening Participatory Organisation (SPO) has covered relevant aspects of the issues, legislation and its implementation and intensity of violence by the tribal chieftains.
The report designed through focus group discussions (FGDs) with the active groups, reviewed previous documents and laws to cover all kinds of violence in the province and suggested protective measures for women.
Local media reports have enough evidence to portray these tyrannical norms in the province, especially in rural areas where this traditional system has been in practice.
The Prevention of Anti-Women Practices Act, 2011 (PAWP 2011) brought amendments and additions to the Pakistan Penal Code and Criminal Procedure Code, in order to guarantee women in Pakistan their fundamental rights and prohibit “certain practices leading to exploitation and discrimination.”
The legislation is there to ban jirga system but due to lack of implementation, the minor girls, women and their parents live very uncertain and miserable life.
These women do not have any place where they may lodge complains against these crimes and narrate their plights for seeking protection. In this situation they might have only option to stage protest demonstrations and narrate their ordeals with media outside local press clubs in nearby towns.
Quite recently a family came to a Hyderabad Press Club to stage a protest against the cruel action by certain criminals who reportedly was involved in harassment of a minor girl. Parents accused police of taking the side of the criminals. They demanded protection of their lives, as criminals have backing of influential persons.
Another incident reported that a five-year old girl Uzma Kaleri daughter of Mumtaz Kaleri had gone missing from Hosri area of Hyderabad city for five days and her body was recovered near the village. Citizen groups took the issue at local forums and staged protest demonstrations to force the authorities to find the killers, so other innocent girls may stay protected. Because in such circumstances many families show reluctance to allow their kids to go outside.
Human Rights Watch, World Report 2017 shows that violence against women and girls, including rape, honor killings, acid attacks, domestic violence and forced marriage remained routine in Pakistan. Civil society organisations, advocating women rights estimate about 1,000 incidents of “honor killings” are reported every year.
Mustafa Baloch, SPO regional head in Hyderabad talking about the issue said in many cases survivors do not have information as to how to access legal aid. There is also no document or a directory that may provide information about lawyers, civil society organizations, legal aid agencies and other actors, who extend legal aid about cases related to gender based violence (GBV) and violation against women (VAW).
There is no referral mechanism, where these survivors might be sent to stay protected or seek justice. There is a confusion at crisis centers, legal aid centers and shelter homes about their jurisdiction because of lack pf clarity on the intersection of these systems.
Similarly, he said women survivors have no privacy while going to police stations to file complaints. Sometimes these women face mistreat while daring to come out of their homes.
He said that after the introduction of the 18 Amendment in the Constitution of Pakistan, gender based violation (GBV) response services have been devolved to the provinces, and now come under the ambit of provincial legislation, and its executive.
Women rights activists believe that the situation is not better in terms of survivors, who mostly are referred to shelter homes. These places look like detention cells instead of places where women may get some relief, let alone an awareness, education, fulfilment of their economical needs, psychological support or doing any social activity as per their choice.
They suggest that women should live a safer life, enjoy freedom to express their desires and issues, fulfil economical needs and get psychological treatment. Because in case of detention-like situations they always feel unprotected. Thus the mechanism of shelter homes should changed so these women stay safe and secured.
Some of the activists said these legislations are being made under international pressure, that is why there is no implementation mechanism of these laws. Institutions responsible do not have information about these regulations.
It was a common understanding of the women rights activists that the entry point for these women is mostly police where they may come and lodge complains. But because police stations work under influence of political persons of the area, most of time they cannot get justice easily.
For this, they also suggest that besides ensuring implementation of laws, reforms mechanisms at shelter homes should be improved where inmates may live safer, enjoy freedom and get psychological support.