LARKANA, Oct 31: Speakers at a seminar here on 'Conflicts in northern Sindh: challenge to peace' criticized the official machinery for strengthening the jirga system in Sindh.

The seminar was organized by the Liberal Forum Pakistan and presided over by Khairpur District Nazim Nafisa Shah.

Speaking on the occasion, Ms Shah said that the colonial rulers had introduced the jirga system in the upper Sindh and the Seraiki belt under their forward policy.

She said since then the system enjoyed official patronage despite lacking a legal cover and big Sardars in this region maintained their sway over the people.

Ms Shah said there was a hotchpotch of laws and one fail to understand either Pakistan was Islamic, tribal or modern state.

"Under this situation the illegitimate government was framing more illegitimate laws" she said.

The nazim said a legal cover for jirga was an open contempt of the Sindh High Court which had declared the system as "illegal".

"Unfortunately archaic traditions and customs are being given a legal cover by the government", Ms Nafisa said.

Larkana District Nazim Khursheed Junejo said many democracies in the world had replaced tribal laws while the Sindh government was preparing to impose such system over the people.

He said the PPP had always stood against the jirga and believed in that very theory that people from the lower middle class were propelled to parliament.

He said by legalizing jirga you would further strengthen the feudalism and weaken the writ of law.

The general secretary of the Amnesty International, Pakistan, Iqbal Detho comrade Shabir Shar, Ammanullah Shaikh, Rahim Jaferi, Hadi Bakhsh Bhutt, Dr Zulfikar Rahujo and Khalid Chandio said conflicts in Sindh would spread fast if not checked at this juncture.

They said Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto had abolished the Jagirdari system in 1971 but Benazir Bhutto governments skipped from implementing it.

"The human rights are being abused and trampled over in the presence weak judiciary", they said.

They said the jirga system was being imposed on Sindh only to depoliticize Sindh and put people at the mercy of landlords.

They alleged those holding jirga were behind kidnapping and murders.

They said the situation in Larkana, Ghotki, Sukkur, Jacobabad and Khairpur districts was getting from bad to worse.

They criticized the karo-kari bill and said there were many lacunas in it.