Excelsior Correspondent
JAMMU, Dec 22: Urging for a distinct law to protect centuries old Tribal Judicial System ‘Jirga’ popular among Gujjars-Bakerwals of Jammu and Kashmir, the community today appealed the law makers of country to provide legal safeguards to hundreds of “Tribal Courts” by making them constitutionally valid through an Act at National and State levels.
In a fresh letter to Union Minister for Law and Justice, Kapil Sibal, sent through Tribal Research and Cultural Foundation-a frontal organization of Gujjars, they asked the Ministry that if timely steps are not taken for preservation of `Jirga’, these time tested and age old traditional law institutions will extinct.
Dr Javaid Rahi, secretary Tribal Foundation, while giving details about the communication, said, “we wrote to Union Law Ministry and Justice that this oldest popular system of justice is facing multi-dimensional threats from all sides and this tradition needs immediate legal recognitions otherwise it will get extinct in next few decades.
We also made an appeal for enactment of an Act for protection of Jirgas to be extendable to Jammu and Kashmir and other North-Western States of India where Gujjars reside.”
The letter further reads that lakhs of Gujjar-Bakerwals in Jammu and Kashmir and other North-Western States still believe and practice traditional Jirga system which is being headed by “Muqadams” an elderly tribal which takes decisions on various issues by consensus. Some Gujjar women, called “Mahries”, also head Jirgas in some remotest pockets of the State, the letter said.
The letter reads that these tribal courts are very much effective, powerful, prompt, inexpensive and available at doorsteps but lacking legal sanctity.
In J&K and adjoining states, the Gujjars-Bakerwal Jirga can award punishment, social boycott or expulsion from the community only.
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