PESHAWAR, Feb 19: Representatives of civil society organisations have called for a proper interpretation of the law concerning the custom of ‘Swara’ (marrying a girl to a rival to settle a dispute) as the present legislation does not give relief to the victims.

The call was made by representatives of the various non-governmental organisations (NGOs) at a consultation called here by Samar Minullah, an anthropologist and Director of the Ethnomedia organisation, here on Sunday.

They said it should be made clear whether the current law was retrospective or prospective as the prevailing law did not provide any relief to the victims of Swara who were engaged on the basis of verbal solemnisation in their childhood and at present wanted to get rid of it.

They argued that under the prevailing law, if a Swara victim made a complaint, her father would be arrested. “This stops the victim from speaking up to get relief,” they said.

Earlier, Ms Samar Minullah said that Ethnomedia was carrying out a statistical research in Mardan and Swabi to determine the extent of prevalence of Swara.

Farah Aqil Shah, a member of the NWFP Assembly from the Awami National Party, termed Swara a deeprooted custom.

She said such a custom to the prevailed because people gave precedence to culture over religion. As a public representative, Ms Shah said, she extended her full support to all those struggling against the abominable custom and promise to raise voice in the assembly against Swara.

Rukhshanda Naz, resident director of the Aurat Foundation, lamented that laws were made, but not enforced properly. “This laxity encourages perpetrators to flout the law with impunity,” she added.

Ms Naz stressed the need for a strong and effective reporting mechanism to put an end to the Swara incidents.

Arshad Mehmood of the Society for Protection and Rights of the Children called for scientific research on Swara. He emphasized the need for orientating the police department for an effective and speedy law-enforcement process.

Gohar Ali of Oxfam, Zeenat Siraj of Sabawoon International, Ijaz Durrani of the Sustainable Participatory Organiza-tion, Sabeena Gul of Shirkat Gah and Mussarat Syed of Khwendo Kor also spoke.

They termed the custom as repugnant to the country’s laws as well as local traditions and urged the need for doing away with the custom through laws.