16 January 2005	Sunday	05 Zilhaj 1425

LARKANA, Jan 15: Speakers at a seminar on "Karo-kari and the jirga system" rejected the karo-kari bill and called for implementation of a Sindh high Court order banning jirgas.

Provincial Human Rights Commission of Pakistan coordinator Akhtar Baloch presided over the seminar, jointly organized by the HRCP and the Church World Services, Pakistan.

Amnesty International, Pakistan, general secretary Iqbal Detho, psychiatrist Dr Zulfikar Rahoojo, former Pakistan Liberal Forum president Ammanullah Shaikh and others spoke on the occasion.

The speakers said honour killings were not contained to Sindh and Balochistan but Bangladesh, India, Egypt, Iraq, Iran, Italy, Israel and others countries also confronted the problem.

They regretted that the SHC's Sukkur bench had banned jirgas on April 24, 2004, but jirgas were still being held, even at the Chief Minister's House. They said without changing attitudes, a change could not be brought about in the society, adding that education played a vital role in this regard.

About the recently-passed bill on karo-kari, the speakers maintained that it had many loopholes. They observed that in the presence of the Qisas and Dayat Ordinance, the entire exercise would be futile as relatives could pardon and exonerate alleged killers.

They regretted that 26 people had fallen prey to kari-kari in Sindh alone in December 2004 and six had been criminally assaulted. They said it was on record that in 2004, 1,284 had been killed on the pretext of karo-kari in the country.

The observed that the jirga system itself suppressed constitutional rights of people and it only suited feudal lords who used it as a tool to control people. They said during the British rule, feudal lords had been used against the local people.

They said it was Sir Charles Naiper who had held the first jirga in Hyderabad. They said the very system was imported and it did not have roots in Sindh. The speakers said through the jirga system, state within a state had been created. The seminar demanded equal rights for men and women and abolition of the jirga system.