QUETTA, Oct 9: The Supreme Court has taken notice of a jirga reportedly held in Dera Bugti district that decided that 13 girls would be married under the custom of ‘wani’ to resolve a feud between two groups of the Masuri tribe.

Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry ordered on Tuesday that the jirga’s members, including Balochistan Assembly member Mir Tariq Masuri, should be presented before the court on Wednesday.

A three-judge bench comprising the chief justice, Justice Khilji Arif Hussain and Justice Jawwad S. Khawaja was hearing a petition filed by the Balochistan Bar Association on the law and order situation in the province and the missing persons’ case.

The chief justice asked the Dera Bugti deputy commissioner to brief him about the Bakar jirga and about action taken in the case.

The deputy commissioner said he had learnt about the incident as late as on Monday and that the jirga had not been held in Bakar, but in Barkhan district. According to him, seven girls had been made wani.

The chief justice wondered why the deputy commissioner was not aware about the incident that had taken place last month.

He said such incidents had also taken place in Sindh where a minister had been involved.

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