Eight months ago, 11-year-old Amna was married off to a man three times her age to settle a crime her uncle had committed.
The uncle had raped another girl in the village, according to tribal elders. Following tribal custom prevalent in highly conservative parts of Pakistan, the elders gave Amna and her 17-year-old cousin, Zulhaj, to that girl's family. Nobody asked their opinion.
Such "compensation marriages" are technically illegal under Pakistani law. But in a country with fraying central authority, the formal judicial system with its slow, corrupt course is often abandoned in favor of traditional tribal justice.
With little faith in the courts, the practice of "swara"—giving away women as punishment for their families—remains an option for settling village disputes in tribal areas dominated by the Pashtun ethnic group in Pakistan's northwest. It also remains prevalent in the tribal-dominated parts of Baluchistan and Punjab provinces. Keep reading
Photo: Annabel Symington/Wall Street Journal
No comments:
Post a Comment