SUKKUR: The chieftain of Bajkani clan in Kandhkot and one of his fellow clansman were arrested after an FIR against them and four other suspects was registered on behalf of the state under Section 310-A (punishment for giving a female in marriage or otherwise in badla-e-sulh, wanni or sawara) of the Pakistan Penal Code at the Gublo police station on Sunday.

The chieftain, Muqaddam Mir Ahmed Bajkani along with Faizullah Bajkani, Raza Mohammad Bajkani and three unknown elders of the clan had convened a jirga on Saturday night to settle a dispute between two families of their clan.

The chieftain heard the two sides at the guests’ room (autaq) of Faizuallah and established that a person, Makhno Bajkani, had an extramarital affair with a woman belonging to the clan. The woman was declared ‘Kari’ (a person liable to be killed by his close relative(s) for having an extramarital affair) some four months ago.

Makhno was ordered to give away his five-year-old daughter to the aggrieved family in ‘wanni’ and pay a fine/compensation of Rs1.2 million in a case of ‘Karo-Kari’ in Kandhkot. Under the custom of ‘wanni’, any male member of the family at the receiving end can wed the girl.

Both sides accepted the jirga’s ruling and announced an end to their four-month-old dispute.

However, upon receiving the report, Gublo police moved into action and arrested Muqaddam Mir and Faizullah. They also started a hunt for the other four persons involved in the jirga proceedings.

Published in Dawn, December 9th, 2019