A FEW days ago, a local jirga in North Waziristan ordered to set on fire the home of a local young journalist, Miraj Khalid, if he did not pay Rs500,000 fine for a social media post against an earlier jirga.

In his post, the journalist had stated that there should be no state within the state, and if someone was involved in any kind of wrongdoing, the state was responsible for taking due action as Waziristan was now part of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and the law of the land prevailed there, not the traditional jirga.

The government did the right thing by providing protection to the journalist and his home. However, the local jirga then changed its verdict and said that the house would not be burned, but sealed. The jirga has also decided that anyone in North Waziristan giving shelter to the journalist’s family or hosting them would be fined. That is why the family has shifted to Islamabad, leaving behind their property, which, according to the father of the journalist, is worth millions of rupees. The young journalist lives in China. He and his family have openly opposed the jirga, and have refused to pay the fine or to tender an apology.

In the erstwhile federally adminis-tered tribal areas (Fata), the traditional jirgas have always wronged the local people. Unfortunately, since the inception of Pakistan, the area was administered under Frontier Crimes Regulations (FCR), and not the Constitution. This gave unquestioned authority to the local lords, who, through their weird jirgas and their decisions, destroyed innumerable lives.

These jirgas have been involved in illogical decisions. For instance, a person does something in his individual capacity, but punishment is given to the whole family in various ways, including setting the family house afire.

Pakistan is a state. It has a Consti-tution that binds the government to protect the life and liberty of each and every citizen. The latest incident can be a good case for the government, state and judiciary to intervene and set things right. The government should take public action against the members of the said Jirga, and given them exemplary punish- ment to put an end to such black laws.

Syed Badsh
Buner

Published in Dawn, December 19th, 2023