6-month baby girl married to 25-yr-old man in Pakistan to settle feud

Islamabad, May 31 (ANI): In order to resolve a feud brought about by the "kidnapping" and subsequent love marriage of a girl by a married man, a Jirga in Pakistan has decided that the man's six-month-old daughter should be married off to the girl's 25-year-old brother.

According to sources, Alamzeb, "abducted" the daughter of his neighbour, Naseer, from the Reri Goth area in Karachi two months ago, and that the two were actually in love with one another, reports the News.

But the family members of the eloped girl took the case as a matter of honour, and they started pressuring the family of the accused and also threatening them.

The sources said that Alamzeb, who has three children, hailed from the Hazara region, while the girl belonged to Charsadda in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa.

The sources said that the wrangle between the two families led to holding of a Jirga comprising elders of the locality.

The Jirga, according to the sources, brokered a compromise between the two families and it was decided that the six-month-old daughter of Alamzeb should be married off to the brother of the girl, Haq Nawaz, 25, on the basis of Swara.

Swara is a child marriage custom in tribal areas of Pakistan and Afghanistan.

This custom is tied to blood feuds among different tribes and clans where the young girls are forcibly married to the members of different clans in order to resolve the feuds. (ANI)