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marriage to Umar Wahid, Azra's brother who was eleven years Paying for the Sins of Otherssenior to Nagina. Nagina's family agreed to the terms and Nagina belonged to the Khail tribe in a village in Tehsil Takhat conditions of the jirga and handed over Nagina to Wahid in a Bai, District Mardan, in the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province. month's time. According to Nagina and her family members The family lived off subsistence agriculture and her father ran a they had no choice but to accept the decision of the jirga. small barber shop in the village and managed to earn a modest Nagina's eyes welled up with tears when she expressed her living that was sufficient to support their small family of five. sentiments about what happened to her. “I have only one brother, if my family had not agreed to hand me over to Wahid, Everything changed for Nagina and her family, when, in 2002, they (Azra's family) would have killed him. For the sake of my Nagina's brother, Ijaz Khan, who following in his family's brother's life, the elders of my family decided to hand me over footsteps was running a barber shop in Mahallah Rustam Khail, as Sawara to Azra's family. I was the proverbial sacrificial lamb,” District Mardan, fell in love with Azra, a girl living in the same said Nagina in a resigned tone.locality. In spite of them belonging to the same Khail tribe, Azra's

family refused to give Azra's hand in marriage to Khan. With the The month following the jirga's decision, Nagina was quietly result the young couple eloped to his village in Takhat Bai and taken away to Wahid's home in Mahallah Rustam Khail and got married there. discretely married off in the presence of a few selected family members from his side. No one from Nagina's family was Taking it an affront to their honor, Azra's family threatened present at the Nikah (the matrimonial contract between a bride Khan's family with dire consequences. and bridegroom within Islamic marriage) ceremony. There were no celebrations or merriment usually associated with a In order to avoid the tedious legal process, police interference marriage. Nagina recalled that everything was done in a very and further disputes, some tribal elders decided to bring the grim manner as if fulfilling a duty.matter up in front of the Jirga to decide the matter and resolve

the issue with the consensus of the two families.Life after Sawara

After much deliberation, the jirga announced its decision to hand Eight years since Nagina continues to live with the stigma of over Khan's fourteen-year old sister Nagina over to Azra's family, being a sawara. She has still not been accepted by either her as compensation and reconciliation for the young couple's husband or in-laws. Her husband is also a barber and they live in transgression. a joint family. She is ill-treated and insulted by everyone and has

absolutely no-decision making powers. Her husband, Wahid, It was decided that Nagina would be given in exchange beats her on the slightest of pretext and never lets her forget

SawaraA Settling of Scores

36

children. She is hardly ever invited to family gatherings, marriages or funerals.

In the Name of Honor1“I condemn this Pushtun custom in which women are handed

over for crimes which they have not committed. This is not safeguarding the Pushtun honor; rather, it leads to gender discrimination and exploitation of women. Our own people and families are using us as shields,” said Nagina who feels wronged by her own family.

The story of Nagina is only one such example faced by hundreds of women all over Pakistan who are considered commodities justified by cultural and social customs. In many instances infant girls are offered as sawara and taken away at a designated period agreed upon by both the parties.

how she came to be in that house.

They are condemned for a crime they neither committed nor At present Nagina works as a domestic help in different homes

had any direct involvement with. Unfortunately, their own to support her family and fulfill her husband's demands. She has

families do little to save these women from this condemnation, a daughter and two sons. “Our monthly income is less than Rs

and in most cases, acquiesce to the decision of the jirga.4,000 (US $47) a month, so I have to work to make ends meet. I have no say in anything and would dare not ask anything from

Nagina was a minor at the time of the jirga's decision, but no one my husband as he is very cruel and beats me ruthlessly if I ask for

from her family, including her elder brother, the cause of the anything,” said Nagina, sharing the details of her pitiful life.

entire dispute, came forward to question the decision of the jirga. It was as if they silently accepted and heaved a sigh of

On the other hand, Azra and Khan, the reason for Nagina relief that the whole matter had been laid to rest after handing

becoming a sawara are living quite happily in their village. over Nagina to the aggrieved family.

Social Outcasts The wronged family had their honor restored by taking away a Due to the stigma and discrimination attached to sawara girl from the feuding family whom they deliberately ill-treated women, Nagina and her children are socially ostracized. Nagina as an act of vengeance. What makes all this even more absurd is tries to stay away from people due to the humiliating behavior of the continued humiliation and ill-treatment of a woman who her husband and in-laws. “I don't have a face to show people. had no direct involvement with the feud and who is now part of My husband beats me almost every day and I feel too humiliated their family through marriage. to face anyone,” she shared, having long mislaid her self-esteem. The Loss of Innocence

Unlike Nagina, Sidra was fortunate in having the support of her According to the women in her neighborhood, Nagina rarely

family, but only after immense trauma and suffering for almost visits anyone's house or attends any social functions and only

six months in a family where she was sexually harassed by goes out for work purposes. “She (Nagina) is quite reserved and

almost every male family member in her husband's home. does not like to mix with other women in the neighborhood. Even if we invite her over she avoids it and we don't want to

Thirteen-year old Sidra, was kidnapped as an act of revenge insist because we are not sure about the attitude of her husband

while going to school in early 2009. The youngest and only sister and in-laws,” expressed a neighbor.

of four male siblings, the Grade 4 student was studying in a private school at that time.

Her children do not attend school not only because of lack of resources but also neglect by the family. No one, including the

Belonging to the Malayzai tribe, the pretty young teenager lived father, seems to be overly concerned with the children's well-

in a low-income locality in the outskirts of Mardan city, a big city being.

in the north-west of Pakistan, in the KP province. The father and the brothers worked as laborers to support the family.

Nagina is not permitted to visit her father's home and neither is her family interested in maintaining any contact with her or her

Sawara – A Settling of Scores

1 Pushtuns inhabit an area of more than 100,000 sq. miles, which is bisected by the Afghan-Pakistani border. More than half of those living in Pakistan are found in the Federally Administered Tribal Area (FATA), Provincially Administered Tribal Area (PATA) and the provinces of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan.

37

Everything was fine for this family until Sidra's mother Tahira's would rather have a divorce then return to Shubanullah and his nephew, Asfandyar and his wife Shabana started having marital family,” said Sidra, clearly not ready to return to that miserable problems. Their continued altercation finally ended in separation existence.and Asfandyar sent Shabana back to her parents' house. Shabana's family blamed Tahira for this as she had been At present Sidra's family has filed a case for divorce, but they are instrumental in arranging their match. They also took this as a still struggling to meet the lawyer's fee, who has clearly direct insult to their family honor and as an act of revenge, conveyed to them that he will only contest the case if he is paid Shabana's brother, Shubanullah kidnapped young Sidra and on time. confined her in an unknown place for three days.

Meanwhile Sidra's family after hectic search realized that their daughter had been kidnapped as an act of sawara by Shabana's family. A First Information Report (FIR) was lodged at the local police station, but instead of helping the poor family, the police took money from Shabana's family and refused to take any action on the pretext of inability to recover the girl from the kidnappers.

Sidra's mother Tahira reported that, “Shabana's family is quite influential as they are financially well off, while we are poor. We could do nothing although in the FIR we had named Shabana's family as the captors.” Three days later, Sidra was married to Shubanullah, 15 years her senior. “The maulvi (cleric) who performed the nikah was very reluctant in the beginning since he realized that I was a mere child and probably knew that what he was being asked to do was not right,” said Sidra.

Meanwhile, Shubanullah's family is still trying their best to delay The young sawara bride did not mind the household chores but the divorce process and do not turn up for the court hearings. was very traumatized by the male members of her husband's family. Sidra's father-in-law, in the presence of his wife, asked Young Sidra and her mother are visiting offices of various non-her to massage him in ways, which according to Sidra, did not governmental organizations in Mardan for free legal aid or any seem right. When she reported this behavior to her husband, he other assistance that might free Sidra from the clutches of snubbed her and told her to do whatever his father or brother Subanullah and help her start a new life.demanded. Shubanullah himself did not have a good moral character and would disappear from home for days without Sawara- Where Did It All Begin?informing his wife. Sidra lived in constant fear of sexual assault Historically this age old custom used to be observed within the on her by her father-in-law and brother-in-law, but there was no same families or biradaries (clans). The purpose was to rebuild one there to protect her. She was not permitted to meet her own broken blood relations through a mutually accepted settlement. family and neither did they dare visit her during her stay at Such type of arrangement arrived at by the elders of the tribes Shubanullah's home. and clans might have served well in the past.

Tit for Tat Today, the ground reality proves that sawara or vani is actually a “After six months of keeping Sidra as his wife, Shubanullah left vengeful custom and is a heinous crime against women. In this Sidra at her parents' house and since then has not returned to process of so-called reconciliation, women have no say, or any take her back. This was their actual revenge on our family,” decision-making powers despite being the direct victims. revealed Sidra's maternal uncle. Sawara victims suffer in many ways but some of the notable

characteristics of this custom are that sawara is simply to save Shubanullah's family wanted to inflict the same pain to Sidra and men at the cost of women who have nothing to do with the her family as their daughter Shabana went through. In the whole quarrel. The only sin of women seems to be having blood beginning some elders from Sidra's family insisted that 'no relations with the sinner or sinners. matter what a married girl should be in her husband's home' and made reconciliation efforts, but there was no response from In addition, the marriages, arranged through such treaties, are Shabana's family. either forced or emotionally exploitative in nature. The

underlying sentiments of hate and revenge never peter out Besides, Sidra herself did not want to go back to that house. “I even during or after this reconciliation. When a sawara girl is don't want to go back. I want to continue with my studies here. I married, there is no drumbeat, no dance or the tradition of

Voicing Issues of Victims of Human Rights Violations in Pakistan

38

more indicative of sympathy for the person or the issue at hand, rather than an indication of a clear rights-based judgment on a case.

The 1997 Report of the Commission of Inquiry for Women states: “The laws of a country establish the basic relationship between the State and citizen and the rights and obligations between citizens themselves. If the laws either directly or by implication maintain half the population - the women's half - in an unequal or subordinate status, no equal development can take place”.

It recommends changes in the Constitution to bring the entire document in line with the fundamental rights articulated in its own chapter on Principles of Policies. The Report also draws attention to existing laws which need to be reformed in line with women's fundamental rights, including selected Islamic laws, family laws, labor and service laws, criminal laws and laws relating to violence against women.

For Family Honor Taking into view these two cases, it is evident that firstly the families could have tried to resolve the matter within their respective families without interference of any external parties. Nagina's brother Khan, and the girl he eloped with, were adults at the time of the incident and decided to get married out of their own free will. The elders of the two families should have

henna (a marriage tradition in which natural henna dye is made an effort to amicably resolve the issue without further

applied to the bride's hands by female relatives). Instead, the aggravating the problem and turning it into an honor issue.

marriage takes on the dirge of a funeral.

The decision of the jirga was based on the conventional action In most cases, the selection of couples is made with complete

usually taken in such cases, which is mostly compensation disregard to age, education, physical attributes, etc. The feelings

through handing over of a female family member of one family of hate and revenge, therefore, carry on in such mismatched

to the aggrieved family. In this specific instance, Nagina was marriages. Taunts and curses become the fate of the sawara

given as sawara to avenge the honor of Azra's family. There was women in their everyday life. These crucified women become

no consideration given by anyone involved including Nagina's the object of admonition and hate and their children grow up

own family, regarding the consequences of this action for under an environment of fear and terror.

Nagina. She was given away by her own parents and close family members at the age of fourteen to a man eleven years

Laws Pertaining to Women her senior. Article 5 of the Constitution places an obligation of loyalty and obedience to the Constitution and law on all citizens of Pakistan. Her family, also belonging to a tribal background, was fully Article 8 of the Constitution states: 'Any law, or any custom or aware of the status given to a female given in sawara, but they usage having the force of law, in so far as it is inconsistent with still decided to comply with the decision of the jirga in order to the rights conferred by this Chapter, shall, to the extent of such save their son and put an end to the conflict.

2inconsistency, be void' .

Women Are Mere ChattelsThe government believes that its laws reflect the principles of

While collecting data for this case study, discussions with international human rights treaties and that the Constitution has

different stakeholders revealed that although there is collective 3sufficient human rights content . However, the role of the understanding amongst everyone involved against the negative judiciary is vital in interpreting these clauses of the Constitution. practice of sawara, people fail to defy it due to societal pressure.

At the state authority level, groups of local police and lawyers Thus far there have been some judgments giving positive reported that they could only take action if anyone reported such interpretations to the Constitution, but the approach has been

2 Constitution of Pakistan 1973. http://www.pakistani.org/pakistan/constitution/ [accessed August 4, 2010]3 See Pakistan combined initial, second and third periodic reports to CEDAW Committee (2006)

Sawara – A Settling of Scores

39

incidents or filed complaints otherwise they had no legal and society at large.authority to confront such practices.

Pakistan's education level remains abysmally low when According to an NGO activist, in one incident, she visited a compared to other countries in South Asia. People have little village where sawara had been reported. But the entire village awareness about their legal rights especially in the rural areas of refused to cooperate or give out any information including the the country.victim or her family. Furthermore, the state is providing ineffective institutional

support for providing access to people concerning their basic Similarly Sidra was the scapegoat for an incident which was not needs and rights as citizens of a sovereign country.even directly related to any member of her family. Their only fault was that Tahira had gone to the girl's house with the The jirga or the panchayat system is still widely prevalent in proposal of her nephew. Therefore, she was seen as the main most tribal and rural areas of Pakistan. This council of elders acts guarantor in this instance. as a locally recognized decision-making structure with an

authority to take decisions on behalf of the local population. The The attitude of the police in this case was highly deplorable. state law does not interfere with the decision of the jirga, Instead of helping Sidra's family, it decided to take the easy way because rarely is their decision questioned by the people or a out and not only took bribe from the other party, but refused to charge pressed against their decision in the court of law. help the victims.

A parallel justice system, thus, continues to exist, which is in When Sidra was returned to her parents' home by Shubanullah, direct conflict with the state laws. Although the traditional her family elders tried their best to send her back as they were concept of such a council was to resolve local issues within the more concerned about their respective family honor regardless local community in a transparent and just manner, however, of the treatment their daughter was meted out in her husband's with time, these structures have become politicized and house. outdated.

If Sidra's mother had not intervened, the young girl may well Poor Governance Perpetuates Sawarahave been sent back. These attitudes reflect the lack of human According to Dr. Mehdi Hasan, known academician and human consideration especially towards females even by close family rights activist, despite extensive awareness-raising and members. mobilization by national and international human rights groups,

there are unfortunately no changes in the cultural practices of Ironically, the 2004 Amendment is still pending in the Supreme the people. In order to achieve effective results, he felt that Court as certain civil society activists are trying to bring changes there was a need to formulate a communication strategy in the prevailing law. According to the present ordinance, according to the social and cultural norms of Pakistan. punishment is inflicted on the victim family rather than the family that demands sawara. As a result, people rarely report “Generally customs and cultural norms overlap with religious such cases for fear of reprisal and imprisonment. The proposed beliefs and people are not educated and informed enough to changes are directed at shifting the focus of the law towards the differentiate between cultural and religious practices. With the instigating party and not towards the victim's family. result many negative customs are attributed to religious

beliefs,” said Hasan.The Actual ReasonsA discriminatory behavior towards women and issues of gender He further added that one of the major reasons for the inequality seem a common thread running through violence perpetuation of customs like sawara was poor governance meted out to women. Not only are women and girl-children system in the country. “The law might be there on paper but attributed a low social status, but even the country's lower courts there is actually no rule of law, while the law enforcement treat them in a derogatory manner. In the context of Pakistan, agencies do not play their requisite role to address such issues,” misconstrued Islamic laws have been converted into state laws said Hasan. like the Hudood Ordinances (laws enacted in 1979 as part of the then military ruler Zia-ul-Haq's ‘so–called’ Islamization process) Furthermore, the inability of international rights organizations to which primarily target females. Women in general, have no focus on such issues (arising from their lack of familiarity with decision-making power at the home or at the community level the social and cultural background of such practices) results in and have poor access to social services including education and them remaining unaddressed at international fora. Therefore, health facilities. explained Hasan, there is no trickle-down effect and the target

population remains unattended to. Positive change is possible Even now, more economic value is attached to sons, while a only through consultative action that involves all the daughter, is still perceived a burden. As a result, from the early stakeholders,” said Hasan, reflecting on why these heinous childhood, boys are given a preferential treatment by the family customs still prevail in the name of family honor.

Voicing Issues of Victims of Human Rights Violations in Pakistan

40

level of concern displayed at the international level for the rights And the Horror Continuesof women in Pakistan. Decades of activism by women, and the From a rights-based perspective, the practice of sawara is highly experience gained by working at the national and local level on discriminatory and a direct violation of basic human rights. projects pertaining to women's rights have also borne fruit, such Although there are no exact figures or statistics indicating the that it can now be said that the second generation of activists rate of prevalence of sawara cases in the country, there is has now gained a foothold. sufficient information available which reflects that sawara

continues to be practiced in many parts of Pakistan. At the same time it is also quite clear that unless the state takes an active position to uphold its commitment to the fundamental Despite the challenges ahead, some opportunities have also principles of human rights, the efforts being made by CSOs and emerged due to the revival of the democratic process through human right activists will not be sufficient to improve the elections, the re-invigoration of the judicial system, and the high existing situation.

Sawara – A Settling of Scores

This case study has been authored by Ms. Sarah Javeed. During its compilation expert opinion on the subject was sought from Dr. Mehdi Hassan, Dean of School of Media & Communication, Beacon House National University.