MANSEHRA: The police on Saturday arrested 10 people in Palas area for holding a jirga to settle a blood dispute in line with the illegal tribal custom of vani.

Under vani, families marry their women off to the men of their rivals to settle blood feuds.

District police officer Shahzad Nadeem Bukhari told reporters here that the arrests were made during a raid on the jirga. He said a brother of the two minor victims of vani custom was among those arrested.

The DPO said Gul Numar had killed Khan Wali in 2010 before dying a natural death in 2016.

He said the jirga was called to settle the blood dispute by marrying the killer’s two minor daughters aged 12 and 13 off to Sartaj and Ayub of the deceased’s family.

Mr Bukhari said the police had begun investigation against the suspects after registering a criminal case.

BOY ASSAULTED: A boy was sexually assaulted in Salabt area of Oghi tehsil on Saturday. The suspect fled after assaulting the five-year-old in fields.

Head moharrar of Oghi police station Israr Shah told reporters that the police had begun search for the suspect after booking him under Section 377 of the Pakistan Penal Code. He said the boy’s medicolegal examination confirmed assault.

Also in the day, the Oghi police registered an FIR against local trader leaders Sarbuland Khan, Ali Ahmad and Abdul Wahab for attacking policemen. The police claimed that the suspects injured three police personnel during a raid on a marriage ceremony, where gunshots were being fired in the air.

Published in Dawn, February 18th, 2018