SUKKUR, June 9: A girl here fell victim to a village jirga which ordered that she be married into a rival family to settle a karo-kari dispute.

It is learnt that the jirga, in the Garhi Hassan Sarki village, was held under the patronage of Thull Taluka Nazim Ghulam Akbar Banglani and dozens of other nazims, naib nazims and influential people. It was called to resolve dispute between the Bagh Ali group and the Shahnawaz group of the Noorani tribe.

The jirga found the Bagh Ali group guilty of karo-kari and fined it Rs 120,000 and ordered it to give a girl in marriage to the Shahnawaz group.

The Bagh Ali group paid Rs 20,000 on the spot and promised pay the remaining amount within two months.

Meanwhile, activists of different political, social and religious parties held a demonstration outside the Thull Press Club in protest against the holding of jirgas.

Led by Jawed Saghar and Abdul Sattar Memon, the activists of People’s Party Parliamentarians, PPP-SB, Jeay Sindh Qaumi Mahaz, Sindh Taraqqi Pasand Party and Shehri Ittehad and other groups participated in the protest.

They demanded that the government of Sindh and the Supreme Court should punish people holding jirgas.

They said that ordering an innocent girl’s marriage to resolve a dispute was inhuman. They also said that such decisions were against the teachings of Islam.

They demanded arrest of the people who presided over and attended the jirga in Thull.

They also urged PPP Chairperson Benazir Bhutto to take action against MNA Mir Hazar Khan Bijarani for attending the jirga.