Pakistan – Girl Buried Alive for Marrying Her Own Choice – Order of Tribal Court
Author: Womens UN Report Network
Date: July 22, 2005
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Asian Human Rights Commission
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PAKISTAN – GIRL BURIED ALIVE FOR
MARRYING HER OWN CHOICE – ORDER OF TRIBAL COURT
21 March, 2014 – The Asian Human Rights Commission
(AHRC) has received information that a 17-year-old girl was buried alive for
marrying by her own choice with a three wheeler driver. She was buried alive on
the instructions of a Jirga, an illegal court run by tribal chiefs. She was
buried in a Hindu graveyard and not in a Muslim graveyard as it was felt she
had betrayed Islam. The local police have not registered a case of murder
against the perpetrators but instead deputed the security guards on the grave
so that people cannot visit.
The parents of the girl are involved in
arranging the murder of their daughter and he was trying to get Diyat (the
blood money) from tribal elders.
CASE NARRATIVE:
Sughra Brohi, aged 17 years, a resident of Jhol,
Sanghar district married Muhammad Ali Khaskheli, a resident of Badin district,
three months ago of her own choice and shifted to Badin with her in-laws. The
boy, Ali Khaskheli, was a three wheeler driver and went to Mirpurkhas city
from Badin, his ancestor’s village to get employment. He was running his eight
seater three wheeler for the pick and drop of school students. During that time
they fell in love with each other and decided to marry in Badin city. This was
out of fear that the tribe and the parents of the girl will not tolerate the
marriage and kill them in the name of an honour killing.
After learning about their marriage the elders of
Brohi tribe were not happy and regarded it as usurping the pride of the caste
by marrying with Khaskheli caste. Some three weeks ago the tribal elders
pursued the parents of the girl and asked them to bring their daughter back and
she would not be punished. Later on, she was forced to return by her family
with the assurance on the Quran, the holiest book of Muslims, that she would
not be harmed. After her return a Jirga, an illegal court, was held which was
presided over by her uncle, Nazar Muhammad Brohi, which decided to punish her
by burying her alive.
The elders and her father decided that she did
not deserve a burial in a Muslim graveyard and according to a newspaper, the
Kawish, they dug a hole in Bheel’s graveyard of the Hindu religion near Jhol
police station in village Hakim Mari, near Sanjhoro and in midnight buried her
alive in village Hakim Khan Marri, Taluka Sanjhoro, district Sanghar. Her cries
did not stop the elders, her father and uncles from this heinous act.
Even after 15 days the police did not take the
action as they thought the action was justified according to tribal norms and
Islamic teachings.
The father of the girl approached the police and
filed a First Information Report in Jhol police station, district Sanghar, for
the murder of his daughter when he could not bargain with the tribal elders for
blood money (Diyat).
The whereabouts of the boy is still not known and
it is feared that he might have been killed.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
The honour killing of girls are very common in
the rural areas of the Sindh province where the feudal social system is very
much entacted. The main reason for the honour killing is to deny the women and
their husband their share from the properties. Though there is a law through
which has declared honour killings as intentional murder but because of the
poor rule of law and patriarchal attitude of the administration and government
functionaries the menace of honour killings continued unabated.
In the Sindh province and southern part of Punjab
province every year more than 300 men and women are killed in the name of
honour. The state has also failed to stop the jirga as it serves the purpose of
the state in the name of “instant justice” and not put the burden on the
courts.
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