Negative customs barred tribal society from development
(ISLAMABAD, April 21, 2012): There are some taboos and negative aspects in tribal culture which are the main hurdle in the development of the area and these customs once removed the tribal society would be put on the path of socio economic development, said Mehran Ali Wazir, in charge CEP.
He was addressing the Culture Exploration Program (CEP), a program of FATA Research Center (FRC) to explore the cultural and traditional heritage of tribal society. Executive Director FRC, Saifullah Khan, Director Mansur Khan and Project Manager Zaheer Khan were also present on the occasion.
Lack of education, opportunities of employment and economic development are main causes of existence of these negative customs in tribal society, Mehran Khan said, adding that once society was empowered and equipped with education and other modern facilities, these customs will be replaced.
Mehran Ali gave a detailed presentation on negative aspects prevailing in the tribal society and highlighted the impacts of these negative customs on tribal culture.
He said at this stage when entire world has move forward and obtained heights of development in technology and other fields while people in FATA are still facing such inhuman customs barring people to move forward to participate in the race of development.
“Customs, rituals and traditions vary among inhabitants of different parts of the world. When we talk about inhabitants we talk about each and every class of the society. Now it is commonly known to everyone across the globe that each class has its own trends and tendencies”, Mehran Khan said, adding that there are some customs, rituals and trends existing in tribal society which are inhuman.
The participants of the CEP discussed in detail the negative customs of tribal society and stressed the need to make changes in these customs to avoid inhumane attitude in future.
Talking on customs like ZHAGH or GHAG, the CEP termed it irrational saying that how a man claim a girl by just resorting firing outside her house and girls family remains bound not to marry the girl without negotiating with claimant. They CEP was informed that Ghag is further divided into three more sub-customs like Toor, Dha’z or T’ak and Ghag and these are also against the traditions of a civilized society.
Mehran talked about negative and positive aspects of another custom known as NUGHA or NAGHA saying the positive aspect of this custom is that worth of verdict of Jarga lies on it while its negativity is that that on violation of a single person whole family is being punished. A person or a family which violates the verdict of Jarga will be awarded heavy fine or their houses would be demolished, he added.
He said in some extreme cases Khaiyee (killing all male members of family) is also awarded to a family. The implementation mechanism of Nugha is that a committee consisting of 40 members and known as (Chalweshti) enforce this verdict of a Jarga, he maintained.
Talking about KHAIYEE, Mehran Khan said that under this inhumane customs all male members of a violator family are being killed by a family or by whole tribe. He said that SWARA is another inhumane custom in which minor girls are being used to settle feuds or enmity. The customary act of Swara is largely prevalent in other parts of the country with names like Wanni etc, through which, instead to give blood money as “badl-e-sulah” to family of deceased or the accused family give their girl or girls in marriage.
Saifullah Khan during discussion further elaborated the kinds of Ghag said that positive aspect of this custom is that if a person claims that he had killed someone then only he will be punished. He said that these customs were part of the regular life in tribal society but at present these are rare and only lower class of the society is involved in these negative customs.
Mansur Khan stressed the need of complete abolition of these negative and inhumane customs saying that a society cannot flourish until negativities were removed.
Zaheer said that it is important to explore the culture of a society to understand it. One cannot give his final version about a society until he explores its culture.(FRC)
