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July 19, 2006

Pakistan: Muslim Forced Marriage Involving Small Children

We reported on vani marriages in Pakistan, where girls are given away as compensation payments for a crime of a male relative.

Vani marriage was outlawed officially at the end of 2004, along with honor killings, coming into force as of the start of last year. The maximum penalty for a vani marriage offense is ten years' jail, but so far, there has not been one successful conviction.

Sometimes, the girls who are expected to be married against their will are betrothed by Muslim clerics at criminally young ages. And the crimes of a man, for which a girl's whole life is affected, can be trivial. We reported on June 30 of the case of a nine year old girl in Sindh province being forcibly married to an elderly man, merely because her father had defaulted on his payment for a bag of rice.

Where a girl can be valued no more highly than a bag of rice, and authorities often turn a blind eye to such abuse, it is little wonder that men continue to trade away their young daughters to avoid punishments for their own crimes.

In SIndh and Punjab province, such a marriage is called vani, though in Sindh the term sang-chati is also employed, and in North-West Frontier Province, where such marriage is common amongst Pashtun peoples, it is called swara.

The Daily Times today reports on another case of vani marriage, from Sindh province. Again in this case, the vani marriage was ordered by a jirga, or Muslim village court, and again the marriage was ordered as a result of a defaulted loan repayment.

A jirga was held in Sanghar, led by two men, Ali Nawaz Rind and Mohammad Ramazan Rind. The jirga was convened to decide the punishment due to Bhongar Khoso, who could not repay a loan which had been made to him by Ali Nawaz Rind. The amount was 25,000 rupees, or $415.

The jirga ordered that Bhongar Khoso should make recompense by giving away in marriage his two infant daughters, one year old Moora and two-year old Marvi. The daughters were to be given in marriage to the infant sons of Ali Nawaz Rind.

Fortunately for the two girls, police became involved before the betrothal went ahead. In many Muslim communities in India and Pakistan, such illegal marriages are still considered as religiously binding.

The police have arrested Ali Nawaz Rind and Mohammad Ramazan Rind, but judging by previous cases, it is doubtful if the case will reach a conclsion where the two men will be punished.

We reported on June 28 on the case of five children, aged from one to five, who were ordered as brides, as a result of a ruling by a jirga. In this case, the girls were to be given away for a crime comitted before they were born, a double murder which happened in 1997. The jirga had involved a member of the Islamist opposition party, the Pakistan People's Party (PPP).

The case had been taken to court, and Sindh province Chief Minister Arbab Ghulam Rahim officially overturned the weddings, saying that they were "immoral, un-Islamic and illegal". The judge ordered an inquiry into the affair.

The Daily Times reports that last week, police formally made charges against 13 people, including the opposition member of parliament, for holding the jirga.

Posted by Giraldus Cambrensis at July 19, 2006 9:48 AM

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Posted by: the poetess at July 19, 2006 5:49 PM

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