Informal justice: First arbitration committee set up in Peshawar

Peace militia leaders will be included in the new system.

PESHAWAR:

In an effort to resolve minor disputes without police involvement, the first arbitration committee for Peshawar district was formed in Nasir Bagh area on Wednesday.

The arbitration committees are meant to resolve local disputes through the traditional jirga system without the registration of FIRs or involvement of police officers. The committees will be formed in jurisdictions of all police stations on the directives of CCPO Imitiaz Altaf. Similar committees have already been established and proven successful in Nowshera, Mardan and Swabi districts.

Talking to The Express Tribune Nasir Bagh SHO Sabz Ali said community elders have nominated and selected a chairman and deputy chairman. Other office bearers have been appointed and given an office inside the police station.

“Arbitration committees will decrease the number of FIRs registered for minor disputes and provide relief to the police as well as the general public,” he said, adding that even after FIRs are filed the committee can resolve a settlement between feuding groups.

The committee is set to work in Juma Khan, Malakander, Badezai and other villages which lie in the jurisdiction of Nasir Bagh police station.

Earlier, CCPO Imtiaz Altaf and SSP Operation Tahir Ayub had directed all police stations to form arbitration committees by nominating local elders with a clean record in every village. It was also decided that the leader of the local peace militia will be included in the jirga-based arbitration system.

However in some villages, including that in Nowshera, arbitration committees have failed to yield desired results as many of its members do not act out of fear of militants.

Talking to The Express Tribune, the chairman of the Nasir Bagh Arbitration Committee and an elder of Badezai village, Haji Muhammad Javed, said that they had 20 local elders from every village. “Small disputes cost our people a lot of money and if we try solving the disputes ourselves it can be done in less time too.” He added that the police have been told that the elders will not engage themselves in an anti-militant drive on the lines of the Bazid Khel or Adezai peace militias.

Published in The Express Tribune, August 30^th, 2012.