Of Justice and Compassion in Chitral-Article

Shahzadi Sofia Baig

With the inexorable march of time, modern ways have found their way to Chitral with reports of crime both within and outside the district. Some months back, readers in Chitral News were advised to be wary of fellow Chitralis down country who were engaged in unethical business practices. Despite its remote location at the rugged Northern tip of Sarhad province, Chitral has been admired as a bastion of relative peace and civility. Tourists and locals alike would wander its towns and countryside with relative abandon. Law and order has long been associated with the lives of ordinary citizens in the district, only disturbed by the geo political events of the past two decades. Although much is said about the hospitable and civic minded nature of Chitralis, credit must be given to the social institutions of Chitral. These institutions were an integral part
of Chitral State ’s social order and system of governance. Naturally this molded the character of the Chitrali people. As Pakistan struggles to bring good governance and accountability to the fore, Chitral’s historic experiences remind us all of what can be achieved by promoting justice.

I am reminded of a moving story of simple justice in the early 1950s. As a boy of hardly eight years, my father witnessed a man being lead about in shackles from Chitral’s Shahi Masjid after Juma prayers. As it turned out, the man in question was a convicted murderer whose death sentence was to be carried out. Accorded his last wishes, the convicted man was released from his constraints and accompanied by the Mehtar’s bodyguards as he wound through the main Bazaar of Chitral City. A crowd of onlookers, my father included, followed the group. The convicted man requested Kebabs, Jalebi and a beverage as a final meal before being taken to the place of execution near Balach. The man asked for and was given a final cigarette. Thereafter the sentenced man was allowed to offer his final prayers of 2 rakats. After making his peace, the convicted man was told to kneel and lower his head to the ground. A male relative from the family of the murdered man, the so called “Waris” of the aggrieved, was called for. This Waris was provided with a Lee Enfield rifle and given three rounds of ammunition. As the aggrieved relative approached the convicted murderer from behind, he suddenly threw down the gun and extended both hands outward to exclaim, “I forgive this man for Allah! I have received justice. Now you may release him.” With that, the convicted man became a free man and the aggrieved party had obtained satisfaction. Suffice it to say, all in the crowd were moved by this display of justice and compassion.

Such examples of justice were common in Chitral where crime was virtually non existent. In a previous article I wrote about the pivotal role played by the Mehtar’s local representative in each locality or village. The local representative who was often a member of the local nobility or Mehtar's family, appointed a Qazi or religious scholar to preside over matters of justice. Local cases were dealt with in an forthright andtransparent  manner where all citizens were invited to contribute opinions and information for the purposes of fact finding. In this model, community participation in the dispensation of justice was important although the final adjudication was carried out by the local Qazi. At the overall state level, the “Qazi ul Quzzat” or Chief Qazi was appointed by the Mehtar himself in consultation with his advisors and members of the government. Indeed the Qazi ul Quzzat was both the Chief Religious Scholar and the equivalent of today’s Chief Justice. The Qazi ul Quzzat was often a scholar of great renown who had studied at one of the major religious centres or Dar Ul Uloom of the day. In the last centuries, most of the noted Qazi ul Quzzat had obtained their higher studies in Peshawar .

Interestingly, two parallel systems of justice existed in Chitral. Namely, the Dastur system and Shariah Law. The Dastur system was based on the deeply held traditions of local justice in Chitral. These traditions were often unwritten and represented an informal code of conduct known to all. Shariah Law, of course, is based upon the principles of Islamic jurisprudence and involved more detailed writings and interpretations. In terms of which system of laws would apply to any dispute, the aggrieved party was given the choice. That is to say that the party which felt that it had been wronged would decide the system of justice which was to be followed, either Sharia Law or the local Chitrali Dastur Laws. At the local level, judicial cases were generally of a petty nature including land disputes and minor infractions. All witnesses and parties had to swear on oath on the Holy Quran before entering any testimony. In disputes where there was no corroborating evidence or witnesses, the aggrieved party had the right to first swear an oath on the Holy Quran. If he chose to forsake the oath taking due to ambivalence about the case, the accused party would be allowed to take the same oath and the subsequent testimony was taken as the basis of the final decision. In matters of dangerous criminals or violent offenders, the accused were often taken to Chitral Fort which included a jail. The jail, called “Bandi Khana” in spoken Khowar was also referred to as “Zendan” in the written Persian used in official state correspondence. Announcements would appear posted in Chitral about a pending case for an accused held in jail. Through these announcements or “Ishtiharay”, citizens possessing relevant information were asked to attend proceedings. These were held following Juma prayers at the Shahi Masjid in Chitral City . If consultations and witnesses were incomplete, an accused had every right to delay the passage of judgment until all relevant information was available. The period of fact finding for cases was variable. After the ruling of the adjudicating Qazi ul Quzzat, a notice of sentencing was announced to the public. These notices served to educate the public about the court case and of the consequences of breaking societal laws.

The model of justice practiced in Chitral was versatile enough to include two parallel forms of jurisprudence and yielded justice that was rarely called into question There are few examples of the harsh application of capital or corporal punishment in Chitral. Lashings are described as the most severe form of corporal punishment witnessed. To hear of crimes committed by Chitralis only makes one nostalgic for simpler times