[3] Traditionally it is used to refer to a request for sanctuary, whereby the host must be willing to fight or die for the sake of anyone who comes knocking at his door seeking refuge,[4] even if it is a sworn enemy.
[5] As the burden of sanctuary and protection extends even to fighting against government troops on behalf of the person seeking refuge,[6] some have suggested that Mullah Omar's refusal to turn in Osama bin Laden was due only to his having availed himself of Nənawā́te.
[6][14] Deputy Minister for Tribal Affairs Mohammed Omar Barakzai recounted the time that another woman was greeted at her door in Saidkhail by a transient student who had just stabbed her son and requested sanctuary; and she told her husband and brothers that he must be given refuge, and taken to safety outside the city.
[15] In a counter-example, the Utmanzai tribe decided to pay a visit to the house of the Governor of the North-West Frontier Province, Owais Ahmed Ghani.
Once they arrived, they impressed upon him a Nənawā́te obligation to give them anything they demanded, and he acquiesced to re-instate the salaries of 5,000 local tribal police whose payments he had suspended ten months earlier following a refusal to work after Taliban threats.