By: TAHIR SIDDIQUI
KARACHI: The Sindh High Court on Monday granted protective bail to two more accused persons in the Shikarpur jirga case.
The seven suspects allowed protective bails by the high court on Saturday were Hadi Bux Jagirani, Ali Mohammad, Abdul Shakoor Jagirani, Haji Mushtaq Mahar, Nawab Ali Mahar, Khalil Mahar and Mohammad Malook.
On Monday, an SHC bench gave Mehboob Ali Mahar and Syed Nadir Shah anticipatory bail in the sum of Rs100,000 each till March 31 directing them to surrender themselves before the trial court.
The two suspects, represented by Advocates Syed Ghulam Shabbir Shah and Sameer Ghazanfar, filed separate petitions asking the court to grant them protective bail for 30 days.
However, the bench gave them pre-arrest bail for seven days making it clear that the “protective bail shall cease to have effect on March 31 after court hours or on any earlier date when applicant may surrender before the trial court”.
The suspects along with Ghous Bux Mahar, a member of the National Assembly belonging to the Pakistan Muslim League-Functional, and 10 others — Mehboob, Abdullah Mahar, Sanaullah, Muhammad Malook, Khalid Ahmed, Mir Hassan, Nawab Nadir Shah, Abdul Shakoor Jageerani, Ali Muhammed, Hadi Bux and Haji Mushtaq Mahar — were booked under a series of sections of the Pakistan Penal Code, including 117 (abetting commission of offence by the public, or more than 10 persons), 143 (intentionally joining unlawful assembly) 384 (extortion) and 419 (cheating by impersonation) by the Lakhi Ghulam Shah police, Shikarpur, for holding the so-called illegal court.
According to media reports, a jirga held in Wazirabad found some Jagirani tribesmen guilty of having illicit relationships with two girls of the Mahar tribe in a karo-kari (honour killing) case.
The jirga, which was held reportedly under the supervision of the PML-F lawmaker, imposed a fine of Rs2.4 million on the Jagiranis payable to the Mahars.
The reports said Abdullah Mahar, Haji Mushtaque Mahar and others from the complainant side and Ali Muhammad Jagirani, Hadi Bux Jagirani and others from the defence side were present when the verdict was announced.
Shahnawaz aka Shani, daughter of Sanaullah Mahar, and Reema, daughter of Abdullah Mahar, were killed by their parents in the name of honour over the suspicion that they had illicit relations with Jagirani tribesmen.
The Jagirani tribe was ordered to pay Rs400,000 each on charges of kidnapping the two girls. Similarly, another fine of Rs400,000 each was imposed on the accused for having illicit relationship with the girls. Driver Khair Mohammad Jagirani was asked to pay Rs400,000 for helping the accused in the crime. Besides, the Jagiranis were directed to pay Rs400,000 to the Mahars in compensation for the expenses incurred by the latter in the matter.
The accused paid Rs100,000 on the spot and promised to pay the remaining Rs2.3m to the Mahar family in three instalments. Both the parties accepted the verdict.
On March 19, Chief Justice of Pakistan Tassaduq Hussain Jillani took suo motu notice of the illegal jirga in Wazirabad.
The suo motu notice was taken on a March 19 on an editorial in this newspaper which stated that two women of the Mahar tribe had allegedly been killed by their fathers for having ‘illicit relations’ with men of the Jagirani tribe.
The SC took up the case last week at the Karachi Registry and ordered the police to arrest all suspects in the case.
