KOHAT: In an unusual punishment awarded to the killers of a boy at a jirga held here on Thursday to settle a blood feud, the accused were asked by the victim’s father to spend four months on a preaching mission.

Jirgas were being organised by one Badshah Gul alias Ghamo since the incident took place on Jan 28, 2023, for an out-of-court patch-up.

Rab Nawaz, father of the murdered boy, finally agreed and asked a preachers party to visit him for the settlement, as he did not want any blood money or revenge.

The accused, Asad, and his son Badshah Mir said that the boy was mistakenly killed in an attack on their rivals.

Later, the accused had surrendered to the police and got bail before arrest from a court.

On Thursday, the accused brought a preachers’ delegation to the victim’s father at a hujra and asked him that they had not killed his son deliberately.

The preachers’ party held long deliberations with the father of the victim and decided to penalise the accused to embark upon a preaching mission for four months and sacrifice five rams. Both the conditions were also accepted by the boy’s father.

Meanwhile, the SHO of the Junglekhel police station, Roman Shah, said that there was no legality of the jirga’s decision to settle a murder case and both the sides would have to present a bond of settlement in the court, which was the only competent authority to allow it.

Published in Dawn, July 28th, 2023