June 03, 2008	Tuesday	Jamadi-ul-Awwal 28, 1429

KARACHI, June 2: The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan has condemned holding jirgas and trading of girls to settle disputes between tribes or clans, and demanded that all those involved in such customs and practices be arrested and punished according to the law.

In a statement issued here on Monday, Iqbal Haider of the HRCP said that holding of jirgas and trading of minor girls had already been declared illegal. Referring to the recently held jirga to settle a dispute between Chakrani and Qalandarani clans of Bugti tribe, the HRCP said that those involved in passing a decree had committed heinous crime.

According to a report prepared by the HRCP’s fact-finding team, the jirga was held in Chach Goth, a village close to the Sindh-Balochistan border, on May 30 to settle an eight-year-old dispute between the two sides. Shar Badag, Aishi Khan and Sohbat Khan from the Qalandarani clan and Noor Ali, Mir Khan and Shahnawaz from the Chakrani declared that they would implement the ruling given the late Nawab Akber Khan Bugti in 2002 to settle the feud.

The dispute had claimed lives of 17 Qalandaranis, including five women, and three Chakranis. Being chieftain of the Bugti tribe, the Nawab had ordered Chakranis to pay Rs4.5 million to the rival clan and marry off 15 of their girls of any age to Qalandarani men.

The report quoted the Kashmore-Kandhkot DPO, Yunus Chandio, as saying that it could not be ascertained that whether the jirga was held in Sindh or Balochistan. Most of the people belonging to the two tribes live in Dera Bugti and Jafarabad (Balochistan) but a few families live in Sindh.