DRCs to play key role in settling hundreds of disputes, feuds

PESHAWAR: A dispute resolution council (DRC) in the provincial capital has received 4043 applications in the last almost seven years, out of which 2013 cases have been settled while 163 are still under process.

Other cases were sent for legal action or were returned for not having proper ground. A Chinese national was among thousands of complainants who moved a DRC in the provincial capital some time back to get back his amount that he invested in business with a local resident. The DRC Gulbahar, after a couple of hearings, resolved the issue and the local returned Rs1 million to the foreigner.

The DRCs in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa are being further strengthened to take up thousands of disputes and blood feuds that claim hundreds of lives every year. More DRCs have started working recently while the rest are being made active to stop or at least reduce the violent incidents due to various disputes.

More violent incidents are being reported due to the local feuds almost daily and the government and the society seems to have failed to stop the killing of innumerable people. Most of the incidents are happening in rural and suburban areas of the province although violence in such disputes are also being reported from urban towns.

Five people were killed from both sides two days ago when rival parties opened fire on each other over a property dispute in the limits of the rural Sarband Police Station. Seven people, including four children, were killed over honour in a house in the limits of Chamkani Police Station while three were killed in a dispute between close relatives in the limits of Rahman Baba Police Station. All these violent incidents happened within a week.

The Inspector General of Police Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Moazzam Jah Ansari, while taking notice of these incidents, has directed the regional and district police chiefs to play a role in settling disputes and blood feuds before these create law and order situation and claim precious lives. All the officers have been directed to compile lists of blood feuds and enmities within their areas, make DRCs active, involve local elders and take other necessary measures to settle these issues and save more lives in future.

A study of various cases of enmities revealed that most of these started after disputes over property, money or due to ego or honour. Some of the feuds also started over petty issues and resulted in the death of many people from both sides.

The mafias in property business, supported by the corrupt elements within the revenue department, have added to the blood feuds over land in recent years.

Some rivalries are decades old and despite the killing of numerous people from both sides, there seems no end to the feuds. In some cases, the jirgas of local elders proved ineffective or took many months to settle any issue, resulting in loss of life. In many areas, criminals and new rich are members of various jirgas, replacing the noble elders, and thus weakening the traditional system to a great extent.

“Apart from involving elders and taking other measures, we are further strengthening the DRC in Badaber and another one recently set up in Hassan Khel. The DRCs will play an active and important role in settling disputes that claimed lives or can be a potential threat to law and order situation,” the Superintendent of Police (SP) Sadar Peshawar Waqar Ahmad told The News.

He informed that more members are being added to the DRCs to effectively process the already received and upcoming complaints. “The Badaber DRC received 224 applications so far, out of which 107 have been settled while 67 cases are still pending,” said the SP Saddar.

The rest of the complaints were either sent for legal action or were filed, returned for various reasons. The DRC in Gulbahar was the first one set up in 2014 that has settled the highest number of 2013 cases so far. “As many as 301 cases were settled by the DRC Gulbahar in 2014, 341 in 2015, 401 in 2016, 301 in 2017, 287 in 2018, 195 in 2019, 111 in 2020 and 76 cases have been settled during the current year,” said Syed Attiq Shah, SP City Peshawar.

He added that 548 cases were referred for necessary legal action while 174 complaints are under process. “The cases settled included property, money and other disputes, inherited property issues, domestic issues within family and more. Some people from abroad also approached the DRCs after disputes with locals and the issues have been settled,” said the SP city.

According to Attiq Shah, lawyers, former judges, ex-military and civilian officers and professors, elders of the society and other noble citizens including women are members of the DRCs in different districts of KP who are appointed after their verification from the Special Branch.

For the soft image, test cricketer Yasir Shah was also made a member of the DRC in Swabi a couple of years ago. Religious minorities as well as transgender persons were also made members of the DRCs in some areas to address issues related to their communities. There are still some technical issues, due to which many people are hesitant to approach the DRCs.

The government and the authorities’ concerned need to make necessary amendments in the rules so police officers can involve these bodies in certain cases on their own and make it more effective in maintaining law and order.