PESHAWAR: Highlighting the importance of alternative disputes resolution (ADR), Peshawar High Court Chief Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim said here on Thursday that by utilising the system the backlog of cases could be reduced to a great extent.

He said that presently around 257,000 cases were pending in district judiciary and apart from regular procedure of dealing with these cases, the system of ADR could be invoked to decide those matters.

He was addressing concluding ceremony of a daylong training for lawyers on ‘arbitration’. The training was organised by International Mediation and Arbitration Centre (IMAC), ministry of law and justice in collaboration with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Bar Council.

The PHC chief justice said that lawyers should not be opposed to ADR as that process had already been ingrained in their culture in the shape of jirga system. He said that disposal of cases in the district judiciary had been taking considerable time, especially in civil nature cases. He added that the high court had established a specially designated court in Peshawar for hearing inheritance cases.

He said that the said court comprised an experienced and senior civil judge for disposing of such cases. He said that proper utilisation of ADR system could help in reducing the number of such like cases at the earliest.

Justice Ishtiaq Ibrahim called upon legal fraternity to create awareness among people about the system and encourage them to rely on it for resolution of their disputes.

He also lauded the ministry of law and justice for organising the training for lawyers, hoping that it would update them with the modern day mechanisms of disputes resolution.

Ihsanullah Khan, the registrar of IMAC, said that the training was part of countrywide campaign started by ministry of law to create awareness among lawyers about ADR.

KP Bar Council vice-chairman Ahmad Farooq Khattak highlighted the importance of ADR, stating that it resembled Pashtun jirga system. He said that keeping in view the importance of ADR, the bar council would hold more such trainings in collaboration with ministry of law.

He said that the participants of the training had been imparted knowledge about mediation, arbitration and other aspects of ADR. He added that ADR was an internationally recognised mode of disposal of cases.

Published in Dawn, February 7th, 2025