MPA’s brother goes underground after death decree by jirga

MANSEHRA: A policeman, who is the younger brother of a Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) member of the provincial assembly (MPA) from Upper Kohistan, has gone underground after a family jirga held in the Baffa Doraha area earlier this month declared him and a tenth-grade schoolgirl Chor (stained) and issued their death decree.

“A young girl, who was recovered by police earlier this week and sent to Darul Aman, and my brother have been declared perverted by the former’s family on trumped-up charges of suspecting their relations, but we are still in a reconciliation process to protect their lives,” Fazle Haq, the PTI MPA from PK-31, told reporters on Friday.

The police in Bisham area in the Shangla district on a tipoff had recovered a tenth-grade schoolgirl from the clutches of her father, uncle and a close family member when they were taking her from Baffa Doraha area of Mansehra to Upper Kohistan through a car via Karakoram Highway allegedly to execute the death decree issued by a jirga.

The police arrested Shabbir Khan, stated to be the father of the girl, his brother Abdul Rasheed and a close family member Sargul Shan and sent them on a judicial remand.The girl, 17, in her statement recorded before the police stated, said that her father and other family members were taking her to Upper Kohistan allegedly to execute the death decree but they (the police) saved her life.

The PTI MPA Fazl-e- Haq said his family and that of the girl had settled in the Doraha area of Mansehra for years. He alleged that the mother of the girl wanted to marry off her with his (MPA) brother and created such an ugly situation for that.

“Our families have also settled in the adjoining villages in Kohistan for centuries, when we heard from neighbours that a girl is stained with my brother we made settlement attempts through local elders repeatedly but to no avail,” he said.

The PTI legislator said since the girl was sent to the Darul Aman by order of a local court in light of her statement, her father and other family members were arrested and his brother had gone underground fearing for his life. “We are in the process of meeting Kohistan’s traditions to send another jirga of elders to the girl’s family for settlement to protect the two lives,” Fazle Haq added.