July 28, 2025
By Dauran Baloch
The dusty courtyard of a jirgah in Balochistan is no place for justice especially if you’re a woman.
In the recent Degari case, where Bano Bibi and Ehsanullah were murdered in the name of honour, the question arises whether there is any honour in taking a life outside the law, and whether honour is preserved when communities bury women based on verdicts passed by illegal forums with no constitutional legitimacy.
Protests have erupted outside the Quetta Press Club because of the incident. Placards call for justice; voices demand accountability. But this is not the first time Balochistan has mourned in public while those in power watched in silence.
The story is typical: a woman is accused of transgression, real or rumoured. A jirga convenes. There are no lawyers, no due process, no defence. A verdict is issued – often death. By the time the State stirs, another grave has already been filled.
What made the Degari case different was the existence of a video circulated widely enough to disturb a carefully cultivated national silence. Without this footage, Bano and Ehsanullah were forgotten names, buried not just in the ground, but in history.
Human rights activist Sabirah Islam, speaking to Voicepk called it “a moment of dishonour,” pointing out that women in Balochistan are not just unprotected they are hunted.
“There is no law,” she told me. “Only a jungle where the weakest are devoured.”
The leaders who preside over these murders say nothing to protect the Constitution.
Nooren Lehri of the National Commission on the Status of Women (NCSW), also speaking to Voicepk, exposed a deeper wound: the jirga system does not merely fail women it excludes them entirely.
“There are no women in decision-making, and absolutely none in the jirgahs. So how can this system ever claim to represent us?”
The truth is, the jirgah system thrives in the vacuum left by the State. When courts are inaccessible, when laws are unenforced, when political will is absent, custom steps in. And in Balochistan, custom still wields the sword.
Behram Lehri, a tribal leader and social activist, told Voicepk.net:
“This is not about tribal identity. It’s about selective justice. The Constitution of Pakistan does not recognise parallel courts. Yet, in the name of tradition, we allow them to operate freely.”
The Degari case also exposes another uncomfortable truth: the Early Age Marriage Bill has been pending in Balochistan for over 14 years. This legislative paralysis is not mere incompetence, it is complicity.
Rights activists say that if honour exists, it lies in protecting the vulnerable. If tradition must be upheld, let it be the tradition of justice not vengeance, and if the State truly believes in the rule of law, it must begin by outlawing the jirgah culture that continues to kill in its name.
Until then, Bano’s blood remains on the hands of the State and society is complicit in it.