KARACHI, June 12: Five girls whose parents were ordered by a recent jirga in Haji Kamal Magsi village near Thul to hand them over in ‘marriage’ to a rival family to settle a long-drawn feud over a murder must have heaved a sigh of relief on Monday when the jirga verdict was declared unlawful.

The decision to annul the verdict was taken at a meeting presided over by Sindh Chief Minister Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim, who took the opportunity to criticise PPP legislator Mir Hazar Khan Bijarani for allegedly taking part in the jirga and being a party to the controversial decision.

The MNA from Jacobabad distanced himself from the jirga decision on Sunday when he told a press conference that he had taken part in a reconciliation meeting, and not a jirga, to help two groups of the Banglani clan to which he belonged, to bury the hatchet. Mr Bijarani earned the criticism of the Sindh chief minister for not attending the Monday meeting to which he had been called.

Dr Rahim asked the Kashmore district’s top police officer to find out why the jirga was allowed to be held. He said an FIR should be registered in the murder case.—Agencies