| Name |
Views and Comments | Date |
| A.H. Malik |
SC rejects Bijarani’s plea for bail
By Nasir Iqbal
ISLAMABAD, Sept 3: The Supreme Court on Monday rejected two requests for bail before arrest, one of them filed by PPP MNA Mir Hazar Khan Bijarani who is charged with playing a role in handing over five minor girls to a family to settle a murder dispute in Jacobabad.
The court also ordered police to deal strictly with people practising customs like Swara and Vanni.
"Go and seek the protection of the court of jurisdiction," Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, heading a seven-member Supreme Court bench, observed. No case for grant of bail had been made out, he added.
The bench was hearing a complaint of anthropologist Samar Minallah against the handing over of Aamna, 5, and Bashiran, 2, daughters of Rehmatullah; Shehzadi, 6, and Meerzadi, 2, daughters of Hafeezullah; and Noor Bano, 3, daughter of Yar Ali, as compensation to the family of the murdered man.
"Why should the court grant protective bail to an influential when it rejects similar requests of the poor on technicalities," the chief justice said.
Justice Mohammad Nawaz Abbasi said the court would not exercise any discretionary jurisdiction.
On Aug 15, the court had ordered arrest of Mr Bijarani and 10 other members of a 14-member jirga who were still free.
Three jirga members, Hafiz Qamaruddin, Yar Ali and Rehmat, have been arrested.
Besides Mr Bijarani, other members of the jirga nominated in the FIR are Peer Bharchoondi Mian Abdul Khalique, Thull Tehsil Nazim Syed Ali Akbar Banglani, Ghulam Rasool Banglani, Syed Jalal Shah, Raza Mohammad Banglani, Qamaruddin Banglani, Hafiz Banglani and Habib Banglani.
The jirga, which was presided over by Mr Bijarani, had settled a feud between two groups by offering the five girls to the victim family and fining both the groups Rs1 million each.
The dispute dates back to 1997 when Miandad Banglani was killed in a shootout over karo-kari charges between groups of Hafiz Qamaruddin and Ali Yar Banglani in Jacobabad district’s Kamal Magsi village.
Police registered the case nine years later after the media highlighted the injustice. A programme on the jirga decision recorded by a regional television was played during the hearing which contained remarks of Yar Ali and Rehmatullah in Sindhi, endorsing the allegation that the girls had been given in compensation to the victim’s family.
In June last year, the Supreme Court froze the jirga ruling of handing over the girls and ordered the district police officer of Kashmore to conduct an independent inquiry and arrest whosoever was guilty.
The other bail plea rejected by the court was of Mian Abdul Khalique who was directed to approach the SHC. |
1/22/2009 |
| A. H. Malik |
All major newspapers prominently reported the decision from the Supreme Court of Pakistan ordering "the arrest of the members of a jirga, including PPP MNA Mir Hazar Khan Bijarani, that decided to hand over five minor girls for marriage to a family to compensate for a murder in Jacobabad. Three of the 14 jirga members are already in police custody and the court ordered the arrest of the other 11″ (Daily Times).
The Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered the arrest of 11 members of a jirga, including PPP MNA Mir Hazar Khan Bijarani, for handing over five minor girls to the family of a murdered man as compensation to settle the dispute in Jacobabad. A five-member Supreme Court bench comprising Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry, Justice Javed Iqbal, Justice Sardar Mohammad Raza Khan, Justice Faqir Mohammad Khokhar and Justice M. Javed Buttar took up a complaint of a freelance anthropologist Samar Minallah against the handing over of five girls — Aamna, 5, Bashiran, 2, (daughters of Rahmatullah), Shehzadi, 6, Meerzadi, 2, (daughters of Hafeezullah) and Noor Bano, 3, (daughter of Yar Ali) — to the family of the murdered man as compensation.
The Supreme Court had in June last year frozen the jirga decision to hand over the minors and ordered police to submit an inquiry report within two weeks. The District Police Officer (DPO) Kashmore was told to conduct an inquiry and arrest the jirga members. When DPO Noor Mohammad informed the court on Wednesday that police had arrested three members of the 14-man jirga, namely Hafiz Qamaruddin, Yar Ali and Rehmat, the CJ asked why were influential people not arrested. "Are you afraid of them?" The DPO explained that he had assumed his duties just one and half months ago. At this, the bench said that police always picked up poor people and were afraid of arresting influential people. The rest of eleven members of the jirga nominated in the FIR are Mir Hazar Khan Bijarani, Peer Bharchoondi Mian Abdul Khalique, Thull Tehsil Nazim Syed Ali Akbar Banglani, Ghulam Rasool Banglani, Syed Jalal Shah, Raza Mohammad Banglani, Qamaruddin Banglani, Hafiz Banglani, Habib Banglani and two others.
The jirga presided over by Mir Hazar Khan Bijarani had ordered the handing over of five minors to the victim’s family and imposed a fine of Rs1 million on both the warring parties to settle a decade-old feud. The feud began in 1997 when one Miandad Banglani was killed in a shootout between Hafiz Qamaruddin and Ali Yar Banglani groups over karo-kari (honour killing) charges in the Kamal Magsi village, Thull tehsil of Jacobabad district. Police registered the case after nine years that too after the media highlighted the injustice. The event of the jirga was recorded by a regional television and was shown during the hearing. The video footage contained statements of Yar Ali and Rehmatullah, fathers of three of the girls, endorsing the allegations that the girls had been given in to the victim’s family as compensation and the decision of marriage had been taken up by the jirga. The case will be taken up again on September 3.
I am very glad that all newspapers have covered this news prominently. However, I suspect that they may have done so for the wrong reasons. For some it is one more piece of evidence in the new assertiveness of the courts and the Chief Justice. For others it is the fact that a sitting MPA from PPP is the focus of the decision. Both are rather petty issues in comparison to the enormity of the real issue here - the plight of these and all the other young girls who have been violated through this custom of Vani.
Part of the reason for the unpleasant sense that continues to bug me is that no newspaper seems to have any real information on what has happened to - or will happen to - the girls in question. What about them? I hope I am wrong and we will soon hear about them from the journalists and from the Courts. I will be severely disappointed if it turns out that this is big news simply because it involves a PPP MNA and an activist Chief Justice. I would be disappointed, but not surprised. |
1/22/2009 |
| A. H. Malik |
Bijarani's Nephews Brutally Murder Jouranalist.
Shahid Soomro, 26, father of two and correspondent of a Sindhi-language newspaper Kawish, was gunned down outside his home in Kandhkot (southeastern Pakistan) on the night of 20 October. He had gone outside in response to a summons by individuals who had initially tried to kidnap him. When he resisted, they opened fire with a Kalashnikov and a revolver and then fled in a vehicle. Hit in the abdomen, Soomro died while being rushed to hospital. His family and friends linked his killing to his reports on human right abuses and corrupt practices during the election campaign. His brother filed a complaint identifying three persons. They were Mohammad Bajkani and two brothers, Waheed Ali and Mohammad Ali Bijarani. These two are the nephews of Mir Hazar Khan Bijarani former federal minister, brothers of Mir Mehboob Bijarani, who has just been elected to the provincial assembly sons of Sher Mohammad Bijarani. Hundreds of journalists demonstrated in several cities throughout the province of Sindhin to demand the arrest and prosecution of Soomro’s killers. Police arrested Mohammad Ali Bijarani the day after the murder. Waheed Ali Bijarani turned himself in on 23 October. They had not been tried till the filing of this report. Mr Bijarani is pressurising the family of Soomro to settle outside the court and accept blood money. |
1/22/2009 | |
