Patrons, stakeholders laud efficacy of dispute resolution councils

These bodies have so far settled 1,000 public rows

MINGORA: Lawyers, religious scholars, women and community elders across Swat district acknowledged the efficacy of dispute resolution councils at a one-day workshop on Thursday.

The workshop was organized under the UNDP’s Strengthening Rule of Law Project (SRLP) in collaboration with the Sarhad Rural Support Programme (SRSP) and District Police Officer Abbas Majeed Marwat.

The project is funded by the European Union.

Tehsil Nazim Ikram Khan and members of dispute resolution councils also participated in the workshop.

Highlighting the dispute resolution council’s performance, speakers said that these entities had been created to bridge the gap between public and law-enforcement agencies, besides reducing the burden on the district judicial department.

Iqbal Sarwar, the head of the Strengthening Rule of Law Project, said: “This is a joint venture to ensure … the rule of law at grass-root level.”

These councils, he said, were effective in collaborating with the police department, yielding positive results by resolving disputes.

“These councils are active in 10 districts of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and a law is being enacted to extend the cover of dispute resolution councils to cover all other districts,” Sarwar said, adding that these councils had so far settled as many as 1,000 public disputes. “The dispute resolution councils have successfully settled disputes relating to inheritance, family matters, ensuring women and children’s rights,” Sarwar said.

Shamsher Ali, a former high court judge, said that the case load on district courts was too heavy and people spent a lot of time waiting.

Ali said that judges were unable to quickly decide cases. “This is why the pace of justice dispensation is slow,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, December 30^th, 2016.