Restorative Justice in Police Stations

INTERVIEW / Ali Gohar

For many Pakistanis, police stations are no longer threatening. Their doors are open not just for reporting crimes, but for those seeking to resolve disputes and find counsel. This is the result of Ali Gohar’s work, the founder of Just Peace International introduced traditional practices of conflict resolution in police stations across several districts in Pakistan over the past few years. “I have modernized an ancient tradition,” he said in an exclusive interview to Comunidad Segura.

Gohar has an expansive personality, apart from writing plays and articles for newspapers, and after having worked for several years in social services in Pakistan, he founded an NGO in 2002 with the goal of promoting peace. But it was during a year spent studying in the United States that the inspiration came to him: “I studied Restorative Justice with Prof Zehr at the Eastern Mennonite University, and then I realized that we have in our own Jirga system, that is as old as Pashtu culture, the means to mitigate conflict and contribute towards peace building,”

Gohar opened offices in police stations for elders with good standing in the community, introducing a restorative justice mechanism to foster peace. “All too often when conflicts reach the justice system, due to protracted, corrupt and expensive process, they generate more violence. People come out of our judicial system either as winners or losers, there is no reconciliation, this becomes the basis for retaliation, killings and growing violence,” said Gohar. 

Restoring the principles of traditional elder councils has meant “promoting consensus” in areas where, according to him “peace is a touchy subject and men wear guns like women wear ornaments.” Several areas of Pakistan are currently in conflict, from cross-border clashes to local long-standing hostilities.

The elders however, have not stopped learning. The Dispute resolution program provides human rights training for elders and for police officers, it leads women to form their own parallel councils, and it cautions against overstepping the boundaries of the judiciary: “In our language the term for justice in court is adal. What we do is ‘Muslahath’, which in our language means ‘to make a wrong right’.” More in the interview that follows:

What is innovative about the Dispute Resolution Project?

The Dispute Resolution project in Khyber Pukhtoon Khwa Province involved training elders and police in alternative dispute resolution, our traditional Jirga system and in restorative justice. It included resolving cases in police stations without the interference of the police or the courts.

Our other project, called Diversion, diverts youths from police stations and from entering the court system. The same elders of the Dispute Resolution program also take part in this diversion program, especially in cases that would involve offending by youths from the community, with the goal of rehabilitating them.

When did the project with the police stations start, how long did it last?

The police project started in 2008 with financial assistance of the Asia Foundation and the Australian embassy. It ended as a project in 2010. Today we still work with the police on a volunteer basis and have introduced it this month in the most violent districts, that districts that have recently been cleared by the army during operations earlier this month.

How many people did it reach?

The project covered the districts of the SWAT, the Upper DIR, Lower Dir and we are now working in also at the District Buner. In Khyber Pukhtoonkhwa we introduced the project in 130 of the total 214 police stations in the province. The project covers the whole population under each participating police district, and takes on every issue for resolution, ranging from minor offences to murder cases.

What inspired you to bring elders to police stations?

I am from the Pashtun tribes, in Afghanistan and Pakistan, and we consider ourselves the world’s largest and oldest tribe, our 5000 year history is well-known. One traditional system has remained with us, called Jirga: the elder council. It not only resolves conflict, but when there was no state, they ruled the Pashtu area through consensus.

We organized the first international seminar on Restorative Justice in Pakistan in 2003, and in 2008 we introduced elders in police stations in 2 trial districts, the result was very successful from minor issues, to murder. It resolved family conflicts and many other disputes.

In the work with police stations, which elements of conflict transformation and restorative justice are present, and how?

We teach all methods of peace building. The common practice is Arbitration, but we try to change it to Mediation and Restorative Justice. Since Jirga is a system has been in existence for 5000 years, and it is a tradition that dispenses punishment for offenders, we try to update it by including restorative elements, to bring it closer to the modern human rights values.

How would you describe their contribution towards conflict resolution and peacebuilding?

Due to prolonged, expensive, corrupt and win/lose character and situation of the criminal justice system in Pakistan, decisions taken in the court system result in hostility and enmity for years after, more violence and deaths, since in the official system there is no reconciliation One of the best aspects of the MC is that they resolve, reconcile, rehabilitate and follow up the parties until full-fledged friendly, brotherly relationships are established, and enmities are finished once for all.

The Dispute resolution project takes elders inside police stations. How does that happen?

We establish offices for elders at each police station. We train them and the police officers in Conflict Transformation, Peace Building, Restorative Justice and Jirga, to make sure both the elders and the police receive the same message.

How do you choose the elders?

We chose people with good reputation and since the police know the communities well, this is verified by the police intelligence agencies and their track records are selected by the high police officials. Then intelligence agencies verified them and referred us for training.

And how do cases reach the elders?

Minor offences or events of lesser importance picked up by the police are referred to the elders for resolution. In our culture, it is often the case that a minor issue leads to a major issue, even murder, and to enmity for years. The role of the police is to refer the case and bring the accused party to the table. The rest of the job is done by the elders; they conduct resolution, reconciliation, and rehabilitation and even go as far as to follow up on further developments.

Why Musalihathi Committees?

Muslahath in our language is means to make wrongs right, while Adal, means justice done court. So Muslahathi committees are concerned with making wrong right.

Is it correct to say that the MC’s are a new “modernized version” of the Jirga system of elder councils?

Yes, the Muslahathi Committee is a new version of the Jirga. The Jirga worked according to the traditional practices, their decisions were verbal, women were not allowed to participate. In contrast, the Muslahathi Committee decisions are taken according to modern scientific principles of conflict transformation, peace building, and restorative justice. Every decision is written down and registered, women are also trained (forming their own committees) and a connection is made to the male committees. However the women’s decisions mostly take affect at the community level because of the strict rules of cultural and religious traditional practices.

Is there a risk the MC’s compete with state institutions such as the police or the justice system? Is there any way to ensure that does not happen?

No, there is no such risk. From the very first day of our training classes, we make it very clear that the MC’s do not work in parallel to the governmental structure of law enforcement and the judiciary. It was the current situation in terms of law an order that led us to want to develop connections between the police and the community, and to decrease the burden on police and judiciary. The police and the judiciary are very happy with the MC’s positive role and have always referred cases of minor offences to them. The community has also deposited trust on the MC’s, and has brought them murder cases, cases taken from the courts and referred to MC’s for reconciliation. So the MC’s role is to support to the government structure.

How does one ensure that conflict transformation sessions guarantee support to people normally excluded by traditional practices and the conventional justice system (women, children, youths)? How to avoid the worst ills of traditional ways such as honour killings, harsh punishment, gender imbalance?

We trained women separately and linked their association to the MC. Now every case is registered in the MC office at a police station. We also developed a checks and balances system for the project. The project has also significantly reduced the sense of insecurity and even fear people have of police stations. The Thana (police station) culture in the past was associated with exploiting women, children and the poor, so their elders at these stations serve as checks on the police. Similarly, the police also prevent Jirga members from violating human rights in any shape or form. The registration process extends to community decisions which are recorded in their offices in a separate registry.