Others that committed the same mistake included a not so young a man from Kot Addu Abdur Rehman Daha, and a social activist Zafar Gurmani. Panwar, who was then a student at the Quaid-e-Azam University, made the mistake of seeking an appointment with Ms Khar. Imran Panwar’s sin was that he was young and enthused by the fact that a prominent woman from his area was at a prominent position. So, the Kot Addu tradition did not allow men from ordinary households to seek Hina Rabbani Khar for help while she was minister of state for economic affairs. It is frightful to see all that is often peddled in the name of cultural norms and traditions. I remember once talking to a seemingly enlightened lady from a feudal landowning background and heard her justify the jirga’s decision that condemned Mukhtaran Mai to gang rape. To those for whom feudalism doesn’t exist, the face of feudalism as an institution might have changed but not the mindset of those who consider brutal exercise of power a part of cultural norms that cannot be challenged. Ghulam Sakina, mother of Jamshed Dasti, speaks to a reporter at her home As Shahnawaz lay on the floor being kicked brutally, his two year old girl Sakina ran away and hid herself at the site of her father being gagged mercilessly. According to Fakhra, Bilal carried out the heinous act in front of her five years old son from another husband.
One of the acid attack victims was no other but Fakhra Yunis who was once married to Ghulam Mustafa Khar’s son Bilal. Lest we forget, this is also a person’s story from the same district which also witnessed the gang rape of Mukhtaran Mai and is known for highest number of acid attacks on women. Saeen tu saeen, saeen ka patwari bhee saeen!īut is it just another family matter? Or is it a personal story that tells us about the nature of our post-colonial state that allows personal power, be that of the militant or the doada, to dictate its terms? I would probably not have even bothered to hear Shahnawaz’s story had I not gone and spent a few days in Muaffargarh, or been at the receiving end of the rural feudal system myself. If the political government and the courts do not intervene, there is also the fear that doada saeen may also intervene and force revenue officials to change details regarding possession of land. Shahnawaz Khar’s FIR, which is his legal right, was registered after considerable effort.
To many this may appear to be just another family matter which will probably settle in favor of whoever can coerce the state machinery in his favor.
What’s more, his mother and younger brother also seem to be on the other side of the family divide. Since March 5th, Shahnawaz has been beaten twice and forced to leave his father’s inheritance. Shahnawaz Khar’s father Ghulam Arabi Khar had died last year in 2013 leaving behind two sons and a wife to wrangle on property matters. All of this happened when Shahnawaz raised objection to the fact that Ghulam Mustafa Khar could not hold a jirga and decide matters pertaining to the former’s property matters since the latter had personal interest in buying him out. Reportedly, on March 5th this year, Shahnawaz Khar was forcibly hauled in front of the main doada (word used in Muzaffargarh Saraiki for chief landlord) of the Khar tribe, Malik Ghulam Mustafa by the latter’s four sons, and beaten and humiliated. We have political parties and institutions that behave the same way as traditional feudal landowners.īut such distinctions may not matter to people like Shahnawaz Khar, a man of docile and soft disposition, known to the world for his contribution to journalism rather than his connection with the notorious Khar clan. Also, feudalism has morphed into many shapes and forms even penetrating the urban upper-middle class, which means that the attitude is no longer restricted to rural areas. Institutionally, this may be correct because land holdings have indeed shrunk and the rural structure in most of Pakistan is not what we equate with feudalism.
It’s often that we come across the argument that feudalism does not exist in Pakistan anymore.