Police arrest 13 men for ordering minor girl's vani in Buner

BUNER: Police arrested on Saturday 13 suspects from Banda Tangi village in District Buner over their alleged involvement in a case pertaining to suwara (also known as vani). 

Suwara is a cultural custom in parts of Pakistan and Afghanistan in which a young girl is forcibly married to an older man as part of the punishment for a crime committed by her male relatives.

A jirga had ordered marriage of a minor girl, aged between four to five years, to an older man after her brother had eloped with a girl from his village. Jirga had even imposed a fine of Rs200,000 on the minor’s family.

Upon the family’s complaint, a case was registered against 13 people involved in the case and they were subsequently arrested. The case has been registered under clauses 310A and 39 of the Child Protection Act 2010.

The suspects have been identified as Saeed Laeeq, Wazir Ali Zartaj, Qasim Khan, Bakht Zameen, Ashtar Khan, Tanush Khan, Riaz, Bakht Sultan, Amir Muhammad Khan, Amroz Khan, and Maulvi Zahir Saeed.

District police officer Buner Muhammad Irshad Khan Yousafzai, while speaking to media, remarked that there is no space for such ills in the society. "Action will be taken immediately after such incidents are reported," he stressed, adding that all those involved in the heinous crime will be taken to task.