Nasar Zada

A local Jirga (council), in the Lower Dir district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, has decided on Friday to set a dower of one tola of gold in marriage.

The decision made by elders of Machaley village, an area in Lal Qila town of Lower Dir, said that the decision has been made due to the huge increase in gold prices at the global and national level and the recent inflation in the country. Violators will be fined Rs 10 lakh along with a social boycott, it warned.

A copy of this decision, written o a stamp paper, has gone viral on social media, in which the people of the area have been informed that this decision should be followed during Nikah from now on. Those found guilty of violating this agreement will be excommunicated, it read further.

Also Read: No gold no marriage!

Jannat Khan, a resident of Machaley involved in the decision, said this decision is taken keeping in mind the recent inflation so that the marriage will be easy. In all areas of Lower Dir, gold is fixed as dowry at the time of marriage. Even in the recent era, the price of gold per tola is 2 lakh 15 thousand rupees.

Mohammad Wahid, another local resident, said that earlier in his area, it was customary to set a dowry of three to five tolas of gold, but now no one can afford that making nikkah and marriage almost impossible for everyone. Girls were forced to stay at home without marriage, but now it is hoped that this decision will make the process of marriage easier and many unmarried people will be able to tie the knot.

According to Wahid, even one tola of gold is expensive, but fixing the dowry in marriage is the Islamic right of the girl and it cannot be denied.

It is a common custom in Upper and Lower Dir that the girl’s ‘rukhsati’ (departure) takes place one or two years after the engagement and the dowry is fixed at the time of engagement.

however, Shad Begum, a social activist from Lower Dir who works for women’s rights, said ‘Haq Mahr’ (dower) is an Islamic and social right of a girl. In our areas, this remains the whole capital of a girl.

she said that some people already do not give their sisters and daughters a share in the property, in such a case it is not a good decision to set the dowry of a girl as one tola of gold, but it should be left to the affordability because if a person is poor, then It will be difficult to buy even one tola of gold. “If someone can afford it, they can buy five tolas of gold, so I think that the decision of dowry should be left to women because it is their right,” she added.

Shad Begum said that leaders and Jirga should decide against outdated traditions in marriage and do away with a dowry so that poor people can easily marry their daughters off.