Baad is a traditional practice of settling disputes in Pakistan

Pakistan

Pakistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan is a sovereign state in South Asia. It has a coastline along the Arabian Sea and the Gulf of Oman in the south and is bordered by Afghanistan and Iran in the west, India in the east and China in the far northeast. In the north, Tajikistan...

 and Afghanistan

Afghanistan

Afghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...

 among Pushtun tribes in which a young girl is traded to settle a dispute for her older relatives. This may involve being used as payment for a financial dispute, as a means to avoid larger or longer-lasting arguments and grudges. A famous example is Bibi Aisha

Bibi Aisha

Bibi Aisha is an Afghan woman whose mutilated face appeared on the cover of Time magazine in summer 2010. Her story first appeared in the Daily Beast in December of 2009, which prompted doctors to write in offering to help her. The Grossman Burn Foundation in California pledged to perform...

, who was subsequently mutilated when she fled the abuse that girls sometimes suffer from their new families under baad. The practice has no legal or religious basis, but is an ancient tradition that is widely accepted among Pakistani and Afghan tribes.

External links

• Afghan Women and the Return of the Taliban, Bibi Aisha cover story in Time magazine