SWABI - The members of district Islahi Jirga, Swabi, said that influencing jirgas and using it as vehicles to increase political weight would not be allowed at any cost.
They said members of each jirga in every village have been directed to remain neutral while working for resolution to people’s problems. This was stated by the members of DIJ in a meeting held at Kotha the other day.
The meeting also nominated its new president, Gul Masat Khan with the show of hands and offered fateha for the departed soul of its late President Col (retd) Ali Gohar Khan.
Participants paid rich tributes to Mr Khan, saying it was Khan who had succeeded to strengthen the jirga and made it a strong vehicle for settlement of disputes at the local level.
The jirga members belong to the different regions/ villages put forward their proposals that how it could be made more productive and result-oriented to resolve people confronting problems, shielding them from trapping in the complicated web of settlement process of the police force who they alleged complicated the issues instead of resolving them.
They said that their main focus is to seek a negotiated settlements of the people disputes, especially it came into seen that minor issues became more complicated in the pukhun society, becoming vary serious when they the jirga members failed to settle rivalries at the initial stages.
Gul said that they have planned to establish Jirga at Tehsil Swabi, Tehsil Chota Lahor, Tehsil Topi and Tehsil Razaar level and jirga at each village level would be strengthened. The village jirga area branches of the DIJ they would make efforts to give due weight to their efforts for the settlement of the disputes.
Zarjab Khan, information secretary said that they have planned to work on various issues and the record keeping process would also be strengthened because in past it was rightly said that one of the main weakness of the jirga was that it was not preserving its regards of settlement of the different disputes. “Now we keep the complete record of the settled disputes and their nature,” he said.
Haji Mumtaz Khan, president of Turlandi Jirga and member of DIJ said that the Pukhtun Jirga has been recognised by the entire world and other bodies of resoling disputes were totally different in nature.
“Despite many difficulties and problems our Jirga is the best is vehicle of settlement of the disputes. And that is the reason it has notched a highly respectable place for itself in the Pukhtun society,” he said. “We are proud over our Jirga.”  Meraj Hamayun, former provincial caretaker education minister said the judicial process is prolonged and it also caused wastage of time and cost too much to the people. “The jirga is an easy and quick process which saved both money sand lives if used according to the Pukhtun traditions and customs by its members,” she said. The other speakers also called for strengthening of the Jirga and expressed readiness to support the new president.