Jirga: a group of men entrenched in the status quo
Norwegian courts sentenced Andre Breivik to 21 years in prison after finding him legally ‘sane’ and therefore responsible and guilty of murder. Breivik accepted this result of his psychiatric assessment, because it gives his phobic views the weight of the opinions of a sane person.
A British judge convicting the parents of Shafilea Ahmad of murder refused to use the term ‘honor’ killing to describe their crime; as did, to their credit, the British police, which had sufficient nous to differentiate between honor and anger.
Little words such as ‘sane’ and ‘honor’ can hide a deranged ideology, and a sickening murder, as can others, such as ‘freedom’, ‘religion’, ‘liberty’, ‘rights’, ‘duty’, ‘tradition’.
Perhaps this is why the Arabic language with its subtle nuances and multiple layers of meaning was chosen to convey such revolutionary concepts, because it can be precise; and why Muslims are encouraged to read the Quran, with understanding, in the original.
In Pakistan we are given to conferring and embracing grandiose titles. If it is Arabic or a traditional title, it is accepted as synonymous with religion and wisdom. Zia-ul-Haq played upon this sentiment, and so we have the Hudood Ordinance liberally sprinkled with dangerous ideas with elaborate Arabic titles.
We also have ‘jirga’, a term wrapped in tradition and tribal mystique.
Over the years, parliaments have evolved, the power of monarchs curtailed, marginalised groups granted rights, and other systems and institutions transformed, enabling change for the better.
A jirga, which adjudicates criminal and other cases in the tribal and rural areas of Pakistan, could also be changed to incorporate powerful criteria of composition and qualifications, making it a valuable local council that settles minor complaints to take some load off the courts. This would be a promising development. But at present it remains a gathering of the ‘elders’ of a community, little educated, possibly illiterate, men –they are always men– rarely neutral, respected because of their position, entrenched in unchanging systems, adjudicating important cases. With conditions as medieval as they are in our tribal and rural areas, these men view anything new with suspicion. Their interest lies in maintaining their power within a status quo, which is that of a primitive, violent society with little education, where women have no rights. This is not the ‘will of the people’, it is power play at its worst.
Given the tribal concept of justice, a jirga’s adjudication is often based on revenge, and the point of a gun, and smacks bizarrely of dark creeds such as LaVeyan Satanism, which promotes vengeance as its central concept, and is based entirely on a philosophy of ‘an eye for an eye’ and the concept of the satisfaction of the self by means of acts of revenge based on ‘do unto others as they do unto you,’ rather than ‘as you would be done by’, or any concept of right.
Islam, (after laying down criteria for its judges and their judgements) encourages forgiveness, but takes a measure of just revenge into account – provided any violence in the name of justice does not exceed the crime, is in the name of God alone and not for personal gain, and therefore for the greater good. This was best illustrated when Ali’s adversary in a war against the enemies of Islam, spat upon Ali’s face. Ali withdrew his sword from the man’s neck and said that killing him would now constitute revenge, and would therefore be wrong.
Implementing such concepts requires a degree of legal wisdom, which, unfortunately, is not the hallmark of a gathering of tribal elders.
Recent judgements passed by jirgas illustrate this point:
A young man from Mansehra dared marry a girl from another tribe. In punishment, the jirga gave his six-year-old niece in marriage to a ten-year-old boy from the other tribe, because her father was unable to pay a fine. The father appealed to the regular courts to annul the marriage.
Another man, this time from Peshawar, asked the high court to intervene because, he alleged, the jirga had ordered him to pay Rs 27,000 to his nephews because he had refused to give his minor daughters to them in marriage.
The list of such judgements is endless.
With the elections close at hand, people have been weighing their choices, and the PTI has a growing following. However, after Imran Khan’s vociferous endorsement of the jirga, many supporters are thinking again. After all, which would you endorse, if any, the six-year-old marrying the ten-year-old, or the two minors being forced to marry their cousins?
The PTI is often viewed as ‘the lesser evil’. Sadly, it is rapidly acquiring the potential of being yet another one.
The writer is a freelance columnist. Read more by her at http://rabia-ahmed.blogspot.com/
Bravo! Well argued and weighty matters that must not be ignored. Jirgas are an anachronism to maintain status quo ante. Their very function is to block justice and stop progress.
I totally agree with what you said about jirga system but police is totally inept to do the job there as well even if we eradicate jirga. On top of that what we are following is a convoluted version of Islam but that does mean that Islam is all about forgiveness. Quran allows female slaves as war captives and more than 700 men aged 14 and above were killed after ghazwa khandaq was over to name a few so there is a fine balance on where we draw the line.
In matters of justice giving weight to social status or caste or prevalent social order or pagan traditions where women for instance are considered the property of their wali never were part of Islam. Islam has been mutilated in many ways by the Saudis, the Taliban, by the mullahs and by panchayats with a feudal mindset. The jirga or panchayat is a parody of justice and must not be confused with Islam. The jirga is an evil of the old social order it is very odd that a young political party promises revolution and justice yet wants to bring back the bad old Dark Ages.
Comments are closed.