21 March, 2014 - The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that a 17-year-old girl was buried alive for marrying by her own choice with a three wheeler driver. She was buried alive on the instructions of a Jirga, an illegal court run by tribal chiefs. She was buried in a Hindu graveyard and not in a Muslim graveyard as it was felt she had betrayed Islam. The local police have not registered a case of murder against the perpetrators but instead deputed the security guards on the grave so that people cannot visit.
The parents of the girl are involved in arranging the murder of their daughter and he was trying to get Diyat (the blood money) from tribal elders.
CASE NARRATIVE:
Sughra Brohi, aged 17 years, a resident of Jhol, Sanghar district married Muhammad Ali Khaskheli, a resident of Badin district, three months ago of her own choice and shifted to Badin with her in-laws. The boy, Ali Khaskheli, was a three wheeler driver and went to Mirpurkhas city from Badin, his ancestor’s village to get employment. He was running his eight seater three wheeler for the pick and drop of school students. During that time they fell in love with each other and decided to marry in Badin city. This was out of fear that the tribe and the parents of the girl will not tolerate the marriage and kill them in the name of an honour killing.
After learning about their marriage the elders of Brohi tribe were not happy and regarded it as usurping the pride of the caste by marrying with Khaskheli caste. Some three weeks ago the tribal elders pursued the parents of the girl and asked them to bring their daughter back and she would not be punished. Later on, she was forced to return by her family with the assurance on the Quran, the holiest book of Muslims, that she would not be harmed. After her return a Jirga, an illegal court, was held which was presided over by her uncle, Nazar Muhammad Brohi, which decided to punish her by burying her alive.
The elders and her father decided that she did not deserve a burial in a Muslim graveyard and according to a newspaper, the Kawish, they dug a hole in Bheel’s graveyard of the Hindu religion near Jhol police station in village Hakim Mari, near Sanjhoro and in midnight buried her alive in village Hakim Khan Marri, Taluka Sanjhoro, district Sanghar. Her cries did not stop the elders, her father and uncles from this heinous act.
Even after 15 days the police did not take the action as they thought the action was justified according to tribal norms and Islamic teachings.
The father of the girl approached the police and filed a First Information Report in Jhol police station, district Sanghar, for the murder of his daughter when he could not bargain with the tribal elders for blood money (Diyat).
The whereabouts of the boy is still not known and it is feared that he might have been killed.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:
The honour killing of girls are very common in the rural areas of the Sindh province where the feudal social system is very much entacted. The main reason for the honour killing is to deny the women and their husband their share from the properties. Though there is a law through which has declared honour killings as intentional murder but because of the poor rule of law and patriarchal attitude of the administration and government functionaries the menace of honour killings continued unabated.
In the Sindh province and southern part of Punjab province every year more than 300 men and women are killed in the name of honour. The state has also failed to stop the jirga as it serves the purpose of the state in the name of “instant justice” and not put the burden on the courts.
