PESHAWAR: Declaring Swara illegal and against human rights, the Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Friday rejected a tribal jirgaÂ’s decision against two sisters, one of whom was going to be married as compensation to a man for settling a family feud. A PHC division bench, consisting of justices Ejaz Afzal and Fazlur Rehman, also directed the station house officer (SHO) of Mandani tehsil, Charsadda district, to take action against members of the jirga, if they tried to implement their decision.Sanad Bibi, 11, and Shah Izzat Bibi, 9, residents of Brawal Banda tehsil, Dir Upper district, had challenged the JirgaÂ’s verdict with the PHC. Muhammad Iqbal Mohmand, counsel for the petitioners, said that Fouzia, resident of Takht Bhi, Mardan, had earlier been married to the uncle of the two girls. After two months of their marriage, another man, Sangeen, resident of Shaheed Kali Tehsil Tangi Charsadda district, claimed that Fouzia had been engaged to him. Sangeen then summoned a tribal jirga, which passed the verdict that one of the two girls would have to be married to him. The jirga also impounded a vehicle belonging to the girlsÂ’ father and told him to marry one of the girls to Sangeen if he wanted to get his vehicle back.
The sisters, in their petition, had asked the court to declare the jirga’s verdict as illegal. “It is a terrible custom, it would not do anything except destroying our lives. It must be abolished,” the girls told the court.
The PHC had earlier declared swara as illegal in 2000, but the custom still prevails in the semi-autonomous tribal regions, where tribal jirgas are used for settling disputes. The jirgaÂ’s verdict came after the Supreme Court issued directives to the inspectors general of police (IGPs) of the four provinces and the Northern Areas to stop forced marriages of women for settling feuds and declared the customs of Vani and Swara un-Islamic.