Marriage Jaffarabad
Jaffarabad district, when compared to other areas of Balochistan, is by large an open society. Male dominance is prevalent. Marriages are arranged. Particularly in the rural areas a limited number of educated or working women may express their willingness or unwillingness for a match. Nevertheless, they still remain under the patriarchal set-up where their fate is determined by their fathers, brothers, or near male relatives. It is widely observed that when uneducated girls get married, they are not consulted. The age for the marriage of a girl ranges from 14 to 18 years. Early age and adolescence marriages are more commonly found in the group of uneducated girls. The area with the lowest female literacy rate shows the largest number of marriages at adolescence age and the largest number of girls given in marriages to those elder in age. Childhood marriages are common in the rural areas.
Vulvar (bride-price) is practiced in the area. Money is paid by the groom for a proposal, but the amount is not very big. The amount of vulvar may be spent on buying dowry for the bride by her guardians/parents. The payment of vulvar is imputed to the male side by the female members at the time a proposal of marriage is made. There are no rules fixed about the amount of vulvar. It varies from case to case. It may be paid by the bridegroom, his parents / guardians or relatives. The demand for vulvar is usually raised, when a proposal is repeated to the bride's side; the one proposed to is very beautiful; the proposer is very rich and/or the bride becomes his second wife.
There is a system of "Wata Sata" (exchange marriages). The system is strongly practiced in the lower and middle class of the society. In the majority of the cases under the system, a girl is married to a man in exchange for a bride for her brother. The system facilitates marriages at lesser expenses and therefore poor people prefer it to vulvar.
Under the vulvar and Ata Wata system, girls proposed to are left with no choice, and have to bow down their heads for marriage without their consent. After the marriage of their daughters, the parents become almost indifferent towards their daughter’s welfare. They remain at the mercy of their husband and in-laws. It is observed that under an exchange system of marriages, retaliation may be shown by the husband side against his wife in case his sister is not happy with his wife's brother. A second marriage on the side may result in marriage breakup, ill treatment of his wife, or tit for tat in retaliation.
A form of retaliation against the wife may result in "Shiakari", where the woman is murdered for being alleged in adultery with another man (see Siakari). Marriages are broken as the result of retaliation.