SWABI, March 5: The district council members have unanimously declared Swara as an inhuman and unjust custom through which innocent girls are married to settle murder cases of their family members.

It is inhuman and unjust that a girl should be given to the victim’s family in compensation, the councillors declared, calling for the repeal of the custom, practised in the Frontier and elsewhere in the country with different names, like Vani.

The local Jirgas should not move for settling disputes, especially those of murders, through Swara, the councillors observed.

The results of marriages made through this way show that such agreements never proved successful and often led to resumption of rivalries, they pointed out.

The members argued that neither the principles of marriage nor the Pakistan  penal  code  allowed  such  practice.  They urged the media to report all those disputes which were likely to be settled through this custom.