ISLAMABAD – Chief Justice of Pakistan (CJP) Mian Saqib Nisar on Thursday remarked that the Jirga system is against the fundamental human rights and recommending that it should be limited to deal civil cases only.
The CJP was hearing a vani and sawara (the system under which girls are married against their will to settle murder and other disputes) case that first taken up in 2005 during former chief justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry’s tenure.
Justice Ijaz-ul-Ahsan during the hearing said that the highest number of jirga’s are held in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan.
However, the chief justice observed that jirgas and panchayats cannot have the legal authority to give girls in vani or announce capital punishment.
Defining the limit of a jirga’s legal powers and jurisdiction, Justice Nisar said, “Only minor civil disputes can be settled through jirga and panchayat and approaching them in such cases is fine. However, jirga rulings on criminal cases intrude on the legal jurisdiction of Pakistani courts.”
The top judge further warned that ruling on cases by Jamaatud Dawa is also illegal.
Urging the federal government to take remedial action, he said that a law should be drafted in this regard and sent to the parliament.
“Only parliament [then] can pass or reject such a law,” he added.
The CJP was told by an advocate general that the Sindh High Court has already declared the jirga system as illegal.
