PESHAWAR, July 30: The provincial police will launch restorative justice programme aimed at seeking settlement of petty disputes out of court.

The project to be launched in Peshawar and Abbottabad districts and the Frontier Region of Peshawar next month with financial assistance of the Asia Foundation (AF) and the Just Peace International (JPI) could gradually be replicated into the whole province.

In this regard, initial meetings have taken place between representatives of the AF and the JPI with Provincial Police Officer Malik Naveed Khan and a Memorandum of Understanding would be signed soon. Officials privy to the proceedings of the initiative said the government had established reconciliatory committees at all the 282 police stations of the province in February, but they remained only on the paper.

Under the plan, mediation committees would be formed with Muharrirs concerned, local elected representatives and local elders as its members. The JPI, which would be implementing the one-year project, would organise capacity-building training workshops for jirga members.

The head of the JPI, Ali Gohar, who is also author of a book on jirga, said they planned to acquire the services of people who had been trained in resolving petty conflicts through dialogues.

According to him, they would hire the services of some members of a Swabi-based jirga which had resolved thousands of disputes out of court.

According to him, the concept of jirga would be revived, which had traditionally played a vital role in resolving disputes. He said most of the people were languishing in jails due to petty crimes, which could be avoided through restorative justice.

About the procedure, he said Muharrirs in police stations concerned would inform members of mediation committees about the nature of conflicts in their respective jurisdictions before registration of cases. The committees’ members, he added, would visit the police stations and hold negotiations with both the offenders and the victims. The members could apprise the high-ups of any matter going against the concept of restorative justice.

He said restorative justice was being practiced in many countries across the globe before the establishment of the State in the 12th century. When the State was established, the restorative justice system began diminishing because the state was not ready to forgive the offender for violating its law.

As time passed, the concept again came to the limelight in different forms in different countries, he said, adding that now the offenders, victims and the community were part of the restorative justice system.

He said probation officers would also be made part of the committees to tackle cases involving juvenile offenders and report to the mediation committees accordingly. This, he said, would not only reduce the burden on police stations and courts, but would also save people from costly legal proceedings.

The penalties imposed by the mediation committee would go to the community to be spent on the welfare of the people.

Mr Gohar said cases relating to elopement of women, honour killings, thefts, domestic violence and others could be handled through this system effectively.