MINGORA: Swat police on Saturday arrested four members of a jirga for marrying off a 15-year-old girl to settle an honour-related issue between two families at Rodingar area of Matta tehsil.

DSP Matta Zafar Khan said that 10 jirga members were booked on the complaint of the victim girl -Ms Alia -and four of them had been arrested. He said that raids were being made to arrest the other six suspects, who escaped after the case surfaced.

The police officer said that the dispute started in 2010 when Akbar Khan broke into the house of Khyber Khan and allegedly attempted to kidnap his wife. However, other family members woke up, forcing the suspect to flee.

`Khyber Khan, resident of Rodingar, lodged case with police under sections 354, 365, 511, and 452 against the suspect for entering his house during night and attempting to kidnap his wife,` said the DSP.

To resolve the dispute, both the families held a jirga on Saturday, which decided to give a daughter of Feroz Khan, brother of the suspect Akbar Khan, to Hamid Khan, son of Khyber Khan in swara.

`We foiled the attempt and arrested four jirga members, said DSP Zafar Khan, adding that the police were trying to hunt down the remaining suspects.

The Jirga members were identified as Gul Rehman, Maseen Zada, Bakhshi, Saeedullah, Bacha Zada, Feroz Khan, Akbar Khan, Hamid Khan, Bakht Zada, Khyber Khan and Molvi Mohammad Rehman, who acted as the nikah khwan.

Meanwhile, talking to Dawn Tabassum Adnan, chairperson of the Khwendo Jirga that has been working for protection of women rights, said that there had been frequent violations of women rights in the rural parts of the province, with no concrete steps having been taken to curb the practice.

She said that the swara practice was unlawful and an inhuman act, adding that the government should take steps to eliminate this practice through creating awareness among people.

WOMAN COMMITS SUICIDE: A woman committed suicide while a man was shot and injured by unidentified persons in separate incidents here on Saturday. According to Kabal police, a woman identified as Ms Gohar Ali of Mela Gah area committed suicide by shooting herself over unknown reasons.

Meanwhile, Ali Khan, a resident of Malookabad area of Mingora city, was shot and injured by unidentified gunmen. He was shifted to hospital where his condition was stated to be stable.