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.

Opinion

Editorial

Plugging the gap
06 May, 2024

Plugging the gap

IN Pakistan, bias begins at birth for the girl child as discriminatory norms, orthodox attitudes and poverty impede...
Terrains of dread
Updated 06 May, 2024

Terrains of dread

Restored faith in the police is unachievable without political commitment and interprovincial support.
Appointment rules
06 May, 2024

Appointment rules

IT appears that, despite years of wrangling over the issue, the country’s top legal minds remain unable to decide...
Hasty transition
Updated 05 May, 2024

Hasty transition

Ostensibly, the aim is to exert greater control over social media and to gain more power to crack down on activists, dissidents and journalists.
One small step…
05 May, 2024

One small step…

THERE is some good news for the nation from the heavens above. On Friday, Pakistan managed to dispatch a lunar...
Not out of the woods
05 May, 2024

Not out of the woods

PAKISTAN’S economic vitals might be showing some signs of improvement, but the country is not yet out of danger....