40 people to face ‘fire test’ in Dera Bugti

[Naveed Yaseen]

By Malik Siraj Akbar
QUETTA: At least 40 individuals await their turn to walk on burning coal to prove their innocence in Balochistan’s Dera Bugti district, in a local judicial practice consented to by the tribal chiefs of the area as a ‘source of speedy justice’.

Sources have said that the newly-elected chief of the Bugti tribe, Mir Aali Bugti is going to make as many as 40 people walk on burning coal to prove their innocence in connection with their alleged involvement in various criminal cases.

The exercise could not be held for the last two years due to the absence of a tribal chief. The Bugtis elected Aali as their new chief last month in a grand jirga to replace his slain grandfather Nawab Akbar Khan Bugti.

Having taken charge as the head of the tribe, Mir Aali has now announced he wil continue the old tribal custom of providing justice to his fellow tribesmen.

In a recent case, at least two Bugti tribesmen – Wadera Ali Muhammad and Wadera Badal Khan – walked on burning coal on Thursday in a grand ceremony in the Sui police station area. They had been charged with perpetrating subversive activities in Dera Bugti district.

According to the tribal practice, locally known as Cherbali, if an alleged criminal walks on the fire unhurt, he will be declared innocent. If his feet show burn marks, however, he would be implicated by a jirga for further punishment.

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