The provincial government of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP) has decided to introduce laws against the custom of Swara in the province.
On Friday, the provincial minister Shaukat Yousafzai announced the KPK government’s decision saying the issue is highly sensitive and there should be a law to stop this custom.
Vani or Swara is a custom found in parts of Pakistan where girls, often minors, are given in marriage or servitude to an aggrieved family as compensation to end disputes, often murder.
This tradition is practiced in different areas of Sindh, Punjab, and KPK. These marriages are known as Vani, Sakh, Sawara, Sharam, Khoon Baha, and Sang Chatti with the difference of languages in different areas. The age of girls who are being given in marriage to the opposite party ranges from 4 to 14 years and the men who receive them are of 25 to 60 years.
Shaukat Yousafzai reinstated that an individual should not be punished for someone else’s wrongdoing and there is a dire need to legislate against the custom.
The minister also observed that the culprits are spared every time due to a loophole in the existing law and today’s educated and aware women should not be married off against their will due to an old custom.
The custom of Swara is practiced in many parts of the province even today and the government has finally sprung into action to stop it.
In January, police raided an attempt to give away a minor girl of 6 under the tradition to strike peace between two warring parties in the Swat district and booked around 17 people in the case.
Prior to that, Swabi police had recovered two minor girls in August last year, who were sold by their father to be taken to Punjab.
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