First DRC in suburban Peshawar receives 23 cases in six weeks

PESHAWAR: The first dispute resolution council (DRC) in an erstwhile semi-tribal area has received 23 applications from the locals to settle their issues in one and a half months.

The DRC in Hassankhel, Peshawar, was set up a couple of months ago and was formally inaugurated by the Peshawar police chief on May 26. Hassankhel, a semi tribal area, was previously called the Frontier Region Peshawar before it was merged as a subdivision of the provincial capital.

“The response to the DRC in this area is overwhelming. The body has already received 23 cases for settlement between two or more parties. The body has settled five cases so far,” stated Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Badaber Malik Habib.

The official added that majority of cases were of property disputes. “We received 13 applications related to property disputes, followed by six related to money, one related to domestic dispute and three were of other nature,” said Malik Habib.

The official added that five cases have been settled, 14 are still pending while four were returned for various reasons. Another official informed that the force has been directed to further strengthen DRCs in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to tackle 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 further active to stop or at least reduce violent incidents due to various disputes.

More violent incidents are being reported due to the local feuds almost daily and the government and society are struggling to stop the killing of innumerable people.

Most of the incidents are happening in rural and suburban areas of the province though violence in such disputes is also being reported from urban towns as well.

A DRC in the rural Badaber has received 224 applications in just over a year, out of which 107 have been settled while 67 cases are still pending.

Thousands of disputes are being settled by the local jirgas. In some areas, criminals have taken over the charge of the jirgas and prolonged a dispute for their vested interests. The DRC in the urban Gulbahar area of the provincial capital was the first one set up in 2014 that has settled the highest number of 2013 cases so far.

An official said 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 were settled during the current year. He added that 548 cases were referred for necessary legal action while 174 complaints are under process.

The cases settled included disputes related to property, money, inheritance and domestic issues. A number of foreigners and overseas Pakistanis also approached the DRCs after disputes with locals and the issues have been settled.