Panaa (Customary Law)
Panaa (Iradi, "refuge"; panaa suroo, "to ask refuge") is the duty, under the customary law (adat) of the Iradi clans, to protect anyone who asks for refuge. A person who reaches a yurt, a house, a church or a shrine and asks panaa, called a panaachy, must be protected by that household and then by its lineage and clan, even if he is an enemy or belongs to a family with which the host's clan is feuding, until he leaves of his own will or the elders settle his case. A host is expected to fight or pay rather than hand over his guest.[1]
Rules
Breaking panaa is held to be the gravest dishonour in the code of honour. The Compendium of customary law adopted by the Iradi Freedom Society in 2022 provides that a clan whose member breaks it loses its voice at the Kurultai for a year. Panaa is not owed to a man who has killed a woman or a child.[2] The custom of asking refuge at a church is remembered from the time of the Khanate of Kokand, when fugitives sheltered in the Church of St. Janyl at Iyık Janyl.[1]
Politics
The IAC applies the custom to people sought by the authorities of the Irad Special Economic Zone (ISEZ): journalists, deserters, debtors and, after the 2023 Student Protests in Talas, some student organisers who stayed with Tanıp families in the Talas Alatau. ISEZ officials describe the tribal regions as a haven for criminals, and the extradition of fugitives across the Qara-Chik Demarcation Line is a recurring item at the Joint Liaison Committee.[3]
See also
References
- ^ Central Asian Cultural Studies Review (2018). 'Roads, Refuge and Reputation: Honour Customs of the Iradi Clans.' Vol. 11, pp. 5–29.
- ^ Iradi Freedom Society (2022). Compendium of Customary Law. Aksay Plateau: IAC Chancellery.
- ^ Eurasian Political Quarterly (2024). 'Refuge and Jurisdiction on the Qara-Chik Line.' Vol. 31, Iss. 3, pp. 88–104.