Published on June 13, 2020
By Shere Azam
Areas of Sindh have become a battleground for deadly clashes among around a dozen tribes. On a daily basis one or two people are being killed because of perpetual hostility. So far thousands of innocent lives have been ruined in this tribal warfare. Because of this businesses are suffering especially of those who are members of the warring tribes.
Voicepk.net visited different districts of the Sindh to investigate the reasons behind these tribal clashes. Tribal elders, police officials, and elected public representatives were of the unanimous view that illiteracy is the root cause of this problem. They say that under tribal culture killing a person is not a big deal, where trivialities are made ego issues.
In a recent instance, three brothers were killed over a land dispute in Tehsil Kandhkot of Kashmore district. The incident happened in the jurisdiction of B Division police station of Kandhkot where the three brothers were shot and killed by armed men. The brothers were returning home from a nearby village where they went for condolences. All of them were killed on the spot.
According to police, the incident happened due to an ongoing dispute over land between the brothers and their uncles. The brothers had killed their cousin – their paternal uncle’s son. In retaliation, their uncle killed them.
After the necessary legal procedures and postmortem, the police handed over the dead bodies to the family. The perpetrators fled the crime scene successfully.
Feudalism
In this incident this may have been a personal enmity but according to public, the tribal elders and landlords are a major reason for such feuds and rivalries to continue, encouraging people to remain engaged in fighting as it fulfills their vested interests and makes them and their power even more ‘relevant’.
But nationalist politicians have put the blame squarely on the shoulders of the Sindh government and Sindh police for all these killings and say that they are watching everything as silent spectators. If the government is serious in eliminating tribal hostilities then it should arrest all those tribal leaders who are involved in this fighting, they say.
Kashmore’s police has admitted that they do not directly interfere in tribal matters. Police sources told Voicepk.net that some tribes have even more lethal weapons than the police. They said that the biggest problem is the Sardari or feudal system.
Until the authorities take this situation into regard, more and more people will continue being killed.