ISLAMABAD: Analysts, legal experts and government representatives have emphasised the importance of integrating Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) into the country’s judicial system to ease the burden on courts and strengthen access to justice, especially for the common man.
The speakers acknowledged that Pakistan remained among the last states to fully embrace ADR but agreed the country is now on a positive trajectory. They observed that the necessary statutory provisions are increasingly in place and that judges are actively employing ADR mechanisms – a clear sign that institutional acceptance is taking hold.
The Islamabad Policy Research Institute (IPRI) had organised the roundtable conference titled ‘The Future Scope of ADR in Pakistan’s Judicial System’.
A recurring theme was the need to move from voluntary to mandatory mediation, they said. Participants argued that mediation will only realise its full potential for both domestic and cross-border disputes once it becomes a mandatory step in the dispute-resolution process.
Panelists also stressed that the courts have an important role to play in shaping public policy on dispute resolution and that this responsibility should be exercised deliberately.
The conference called for a consolidated rule book and urged the legal community to draw lessons from its own experience and take ownership of reform rather than depending on borrowed frameworks.
The speakers pointed out shortcomings in the training of mediators in Pakistan and called for sustained investment in capacity building to professionalise the field.
Alongside their optimism, the speakers were candid about the system’s current shortcomings. They pointed out the inadequate training of mediators as a key weakness, warning that without standardised capacity building, the quality and credibility of mediation would remain uneven.
Equally concerning, they noted, was the absence of a codified set of arbitration rules to operationalise the Arbitration Act of 1940 — a gap that leaves practitioners without clear procedural guidance and undermines confidence in the framework.
IPRI President retired Lt Gen Majid Ehsan described ADR as both a practical necessity and a strategic priority for the country’s legal system.
The conference was attended by Barrister Ayesha Siddique Khan, Chair of International Law at IPRI and a Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators, UK; Justice Jawad Hassan, Judge, Lahore High Court; Justice (retired) Mujahid Mustaqeem Ahmed, Chairperson of the Punjab ADR Accreditation Authority (PADRAA) and former Judge of the Lahore High Court; Dr Muhammad Raheem Awan, former Secretary of the Law and Justice Commission of Pakistan; Barrister Mian Sheraz Javed, Fellow and Chair, CiArb Pakistan and others.
Published in Dawn, June 15th, 2026