Council of elders or panchayats have come a long way in the last century or so; extensively evolving from their historic use of settling petty daily affairs to the present day where they hold substantial importance as parallel justice systems, especially in rural Pakistan. This provision of cheap and speedy quasi-judiciary was once again considered by the National Assembly on Friday when it passed a historic bill, which conferred both legal and constitutional covers upon the jirga and panchayat systems. With a much-touted enforcement on an immediate basis in the federal capital as well as its gradual implementation in other parts of the country, the legislation aims to settle as many as 23 types of civil and criminal disputes through government-appointed mediators, who will act as judges under the alternative system.
The bill talks at length about the educational in addition to experience requirements needed for the selection of the panel of “neutrals” — mediators — in all districts, which would be carried out in conjunction with the high court. It is, thus, hoped that an adequately literate panchayat would be more capable of handling issues with a fastidious attention to detail. Resolutions suggested by esteemed personalities — which are said to include lawyers, retired judges, former civil servants, social workers, jurists and technocrats among several others — would probably take a deeper account of the local norms as well as the societal implications of the ruling. Concerns over the rights of women in the system were rightly raised by female members of the house. The horrific manner in which many of the verdicts announced by similar councils of village elders have dictated punishments that largely gear towards the female parties involved in order to settle disputes should be, definitely, looked into with utmost scrutiny while implementing the bill. Only last month, a 10-year-old was raped on the order of a panchayat in Bahawalpur to avenge the alleged rape of an 11-year-old at the hands of her brother. Last April, a jirga headed by a PTI representative, Shafqat Unnar, in Larkana, allowed a government school teacher to roam free even after he was found guilty of raping and impregnating a fourth-grader; slapping a mere fine of Rs 900,000 on his wrist. Another jirga in Mirpur Khas settled a gang rape case for an insignificant compensation of 30 maunds of wheat.
