KARACHI, Sept 17: Speakers at a seminar here on Friday stressed the need for spreading awareness of karo-kari on mass level in order to contain the menace effectively. The seminar on karo-kari was organized by Sindh Ombudsman Yusuf Jamal.
Most of the speakers believed that merely enacting laws could not work in achieving the objective. Rather, they stressed, the mindset of the followers of such a horrible tradition had to be changed to root it out.
Justice Sabihuddin Ahmad of the Sindh High Court said that if the shelter extended under the defence through the provision of 'grave and sudden provocation' had been removed, why could not the culprits of karo-kari given an exemplary punishment?
Even if the legal heirs may come out with pardon to such a culprit, the guilty may still be punished under certain laws and codes, he said. Ombudsman Yusuf Jamal described the issue as 'very serious' and noted that it had now come under debate in parliament. He believed that incidence of karo-kari might register a sharp decline once a law was enacted.
Mr Aftab Shaikh urged the government to get the bill on karo-kari adopted without wasting more time. He stressed on a comprehensive law which could deal with a guilty severely.
A large number of people, an overwhelming majority of them being women, has already been eliminated under the karo-kari custom with the actual motive in most cases being to settle personal score, take control of the victim's property, etc.
He suggested that karo-kari cases be tried in anti-terrorism courts and assets of the guilty side be confiscated. Mr Inayat Talpur was of the view that nobody had the right to order or carry out killing of a person. If anyone is accused of some punishable crime related to extramarital affair, the case must be referred to a court for a verdict.
He also urged media not to scandalize love-marriages. This, he pointed out, often enraged the families involved, thus creating problems for the couple and some of them might be made to face an extreme action.
Mr Talpur, however, supported the jirga system but only for the sake of quick justice in a situation where courts would take a long time to dispose of a case. Mr Anwar Mahar told the audience that in certain rural areas of Sindh, the only proof required to declare a girl/woman 'kari' was an 'endorsement' by her husband, brother or father that she was guilty of maintaining illicit relation.
He also emphasized that even if the accused appeared guilty, the verdict should come from a court of law. On the other hand, he added, if a murderer in karo-kari case was apprehended by police, he was not handed the punishment he deserved.
Mr Ghulam Rabbani Akro wondered said that not a single feudal lord or a woman from the elite class had ever been declared karo/kari. All the victims came from among the lower or middle class, he pointed out.
He recalled that Sir Charles Napier, soon after taking over Sindh, had announced stern action against anyone killing a person under the custom of karo-kari. "A few people had been handed capital punishment and the cases of murders under karo-kari registered a considerable decline," he said.
Sardar Yar Mohammad Rind, who had come from Balochistan, said that under the karo-kari custom, the person authorized to kill a 'guilty' was the father, son, brother or nephew. "Strong rules govern the tradition," he observed. Contrary to what people in other areas might be thinking, the womenfolk in Baloch society is highly respected, he added.
He suggested that the jury system of many developed countries had proved successful and could be introduced in Pakistan. He also stressed on expeditious proceedings for quick justice so that those referring to jirga only to avoid long delays in litigation process could be prevented from opting for a decree by jirga.
Ms Fahmida Riaz presented a poem on the subject. Expressing her views, she pointed out that despite the fact that most of the victims of karo-kari were women, not a single woman had been invited to take a seat on the stage or speak on the issue at the seminar. She described the situation as 'unfortunate'.
Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ibad, Shoaib Bukhari, Dr Farooq Sattar, Prof Amar Sindhu, Amir Bakhsh, Sardar Manzoor Panhwar and Ali Hassan were among those invited to attend the seminar and speak on the subject but none of them turned up.