The Family Kech

The district has a predominant tradition of joint families. Male siblings reside in one household even after marriage. However, some nuclear families also exist. New life styles have motivated people towards a nuclear family system, but sometimes economic compromises and sometimes cultural values restrain them from adopting this type of family system. If brothers are employed abroad, it becomes a moral and cultural obligation of the brothers staying at home to live in a joint family and look after the families of brothers abroad. If parents are old, then also it is considered duty of the children to look after them.

The family ties are still good and relatively less materialistic. The family plays its role of social control very effectively by means of socialisation. As a social institution, the family is very strong. In Kech the family pattern is patriarchal and patrilocal in most cases.

Customs of Co-operation Kech

Co-operation is a prerequisite for survival of a society. Co-operation is necessary for welfare as well as for development activities. The people in Kech have very old traditions of co-operation. One of the forms of co-operation is called bijar or sarrech. This is a system of making contributions by members of the tribe or community to arrange labb or haq mehr for marriage. Usually people contribute according to their affordability and a reciprocal contribution is made later on by the receiving party at marriage of the giving party. However reciprocity of amount is not obligatory.

Another form of co-operation is excavation of karezes and utilisation of karez’s water for irrigation or domestic purposes. Excavation of karez is a very difficult task and can be expensive in case of employing labour for this purpose. Therefore all the potential users of water pool their efforts or money to get a karez excavated. The water obtained by that karez is distributed on equity basis. A person amongst the share holders, locally called sarishta, is held responsible to take care of the karez and arbitrate in case of any dispute regarding the distribution of water.

A newly introduced form of co-operation is the management of water supply schemes by the community. These schemes were completed by the Public Health Engineering Department and handed over to the Water Management Associations, committees formed amongst the community. These associations fix tariff for water consumers, operate and manage the schemes, and arrange for minor repairs up to 10,000 rupees, if needed.

The Strengthening Participatory Organisation (SPO) is active in the formation of Anjuman Zanana Taleem (AZT) – Association for Female Education – with local women as its members to implement the Village Education Program. These AZT’s are gradually converted into community based organisations (CBOs). Similarly the National Rural Support Program (NRSP) is working in Kech with an objective to foster a network of grassroots organisations which would enable local communities to plan and undertake their own development. At present, at least 31 community based organisations are active in the district for social welfare, providing training in embroidery and tailoring to girls, and promoting the expansion of educational facilities. Through this induced type of co-operation communities are mobilised for their socio-economic development.

Conflict Resolution Kech

Mostly in case of a conflict between two individuals only the families or closest friends take sides of the conflicting rivals so there are rare chances that personal conflict will transform into a tribal vendetta. Women are not involved in conflict resolution as it is in some other areas of Balochistan.

 Jirga system has been there but after the Balochistan High Court decision, it has been abolished. Now people try to mediate their conflicts at community level by involving old wise men or common friends as mediators. Sometimes, elected representatives to the local councils are also involved in mediation. Otherwise people pursue the court of law. It was told that usually people do not want to go to the police.