KHAIRPUR, July 6: Two minor girls who had been given in marriage to elderly men by a recent jirga to settle a karo-kari dispute heaved a sigh of relief on Thursday when a Pir Jo Goth court sent them to a Darul Aman.

The Ahmedpur police enforced the court’s orders by arresting five of the 14 suspects booked for seeking to implement the jirga’s decision by kidnapping nine-year-old Shakila and 10-year-old Bashiran in the early hours of Tuesday.

However, the feudal lord who took the jirga decision is at large.

Khairpur’s police chief, Javed Jiskani, told newsmen that in order to settle the karo-kari dispute, feudal lord Ghulam Mustafa Solangi had ordered that Bashiran and Shakila be married to Hidyatullah Solangi, 50, and Mohammad Maroof Solangi, 58, respectively.

Fortunately for the girls, their parents refused to implement the jirga decision and immediately sought police protection in the face of mounting pressure from the elderly would-be grooms.