Jirga orders ‘vani’ for minor nieces of kari accused

Accusing a young man of committing karo-kari, a local jirga at a village in rural Sindh on Monday ordered his two minor nieces – eight and nine years old – to be forcibly married in ‘vani’ as punishment.

The jirga held in Allah Ditta village of Obaro taluka has also slapped Rs 4 million fine on the accused Wazeer Ahmed. Ahmed claims that influential people in the village had levelled false charges of ‘karo-kari’ against him to seize a two-acre plot of land he owns.

Vani is a custom in parts of rural Pakistan in which girls are forcibly married as part of punishment for a crime committed by their male relatives. Pakistani law prohibits the custom of forcing women to enter into marriage in consideration of settling a civil dispute or criminal liability, punishable by up to seven years in jail.