Nine-year-old daughter awarded as compensation after dispute between Pakistani farm worker and land owner

A Pakistani farmer has been arrested after agreeing to a village council's order to hand over his nine-year-old daughter as 'compensation'. Police in Pakistan have arrested five men after a village council demanded the little girl be married off as part of a settlement in a rape case, officers said Friday.

 

Pakistani police, seen patrolling the Punjab province, arrested five men after the 'Vani' deal

A group of elders in the remote rural area of Bahalak, in the Punjab province, ended a year-long dispute between a farm worker and an influential local landowner through the illegal agreement, local police station chief Mohammad Khalid told AFP.

The worker, Arshad, who goes by one name, was accused of involvement in the abduction and rape of landowner Ali Sher's daughter, Khalid said.

'The jury on Sunday decreed that Arshad would marry (off) his daughter Sidra to Ali Sher's 22-year old son Maqsood,' he explained. 'Arshad agreed verbally but Sidra, who is too young, remains with her family,' he said. The marriage was not formalised but the village council insisted Arshad agree to pay Sher 400,000 rupees ($4,000) - a huge sum for a farm labourer in Pakistan - if he did not honour the agreement. Khalid said Arshad and four council members had been arrested.

Giving daughters away as compensation to end vendettas - a practise known as Vani - is illegal and punishable by up to seven years in jail. Pakistan is a deeply conservative country and women, especially in poor rural areas, enjoy few rights and little protection from the police. Last week a couple in Pakistan-administered Kashmir killed their 15-year-old daughter by dousing her with acid for supposedly shaming the family by looking at two boys.

 

Pakistani women have very few rights when it comes to relationships and marriages

Gradually, the age of women when married has risen in Pakistan. The average age of women when they are married has increased from 16.9 years in 1951 to 22.5 years in 2005.  The overwhelming majority of marriages result in partnerships within the family, typically between cousins. Just 37 per cent of women are not related to their spouses before marriage. Because of the fierce social stigma attached to divorce, the rate of marriage breaks up is very low. The women who dare to seek a divorce risk death, as requests to break free from their partners can result in honour killings, sometimes inflicted on them by their own family.

 Source: Daily Mail UK 

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