Supreme Court orders thorough investigation of Dera-Bugti incident

Ruling out request of Advocate General Baluchistan to discharge the case, the Supreme Court has ordered that the girls and the tribal elders involved in the Dera Bugti wani incident be presented before it.

A three-member bench of the apex court with Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhary in the chair asked the authorities to thoroughly investigate the case.

The court ordered this during the hearing in the suo motu notice of a jirga which was reportedly held in Dera Bugti district’s Bakar area and had decided that 13 girls be married under the custom of Wani to resolve a feud between two groups of the Masuri tribe.

Advocate General Baluchistan Amanullah Kinrani, however, said there was no information that any such incident had taken place.

In the meantime, the provincial administration also denied that the incident of Wani had taken place in Dera Bugti. The DCO of Dera Bugti informed the court that there was no evidence of the girls being given in marriage to settle a tribal dispute.

Justice Jawwad S Khawaja in the course of hearing remarked that the matter would not resolve until all those involved in the incident did not appear before the bench. He further said that no one should be made a victim of harassment.

Addressing Sarfaraz Bugti, a cousin of MPA Mir Tariq Masuri who allegedly chaired the jirga, Chief Justice Iftikhar said that if he had any evidence to prove his allegation that the jirga that had decided on the wani had taken place, he should furnish it before the bench.

Bugti said the incident had happened a month ago and that MPA Masuri was an influential man. He moreover said that he could also name the tribal elders who were present at the jirga.

Wani is the custom of giving females in marriage by an offending party to the males of the victim party as consideration of compromising offenses.

The tradition had been existed for centuries in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, in Baluchistan and in some parts of Sindh under different names.

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Posted by Faisal Farooq on Oct 11 2012. Filed under National, Pakistan. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.