[DAWN] The Lahore High Court on Friday ordered the SHO of Kunjah, Gujarat to recover and present a 20-year-old woman who was allegedly kidnapped for vani (the exchange of women as consideration for compounding disputes/offences) while hearing a petition registered for her recovery.Justice Farooq Haider heard the petition, which was registered by a close relative of the woman through Advocate Imran Ghuman on May 8.
According to the lawyer, the abducted woman's father had fled to Britain due to a personal dispute in Darra Adam Khel while the girl was living with her mother in Lahore.
He said that the 20-year-old victim was kidnapped two days prior to the petition being filed by five people from Darra Adam Khel.
The abduction seems to be connected to an incident in 2016, when, on gunpoint, a jirga had made the petitioner assure the vani of two girls.
While asking the court to recover the abducted woman and not permit her vani to take place, the petition stated that if she was not recovered, the people in Darra Adam Khel would take her to Khyber Pakthunkhwa and she would be forcibly married off.
Vani (Urdu: ونی), or Swara (سوارہ), is a cultural custom found in parts of Pakistan and Afghanistan whereby a young girl is married as punishment for some crime committed by her male relatives.[1] Vani is a form of arranged child marriage,[2] and the result of punishment decided by a council of tribal elders named jirga.[3][4] It is tied to blood feuds among the different tribes and clans and is most common among Pashtuns. Vani is sometimes spelled as Wani or Wanni. It is a Pashto word derived from vanay which means blood. It is also known as Sak and Sangchatti (سنگ چتی) in different regional languages of India.[5][6][7] Some claim Vani can be avoided if the clan of the girl agrees to pay money, called Deet (دیت).
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The custom became illegal in Pakistan between 2005 and 2011,[8] however, it still continues.[9] Recently[when?] the courts in Pakistan have begun taking serious note and action against the continuation of the practice.[10]