Comparative international experience supports this approach. Rwanda’s Gacaca courts and Sierra Leone’s Local Courts system demonstrate that community-based justice mechanisms can contribute meaningfully to justice delivery when subject to state oversight, procedural safeguards, and institutional accountability.

Reform is therefore not an attempt to romanticise tradition, but a calibrated legal response to institutional constraints and social realities, aimed at expanding access to justice without departing from constitutional principles.

In light of the foregoing analysis, the following reforms are proposed. First, the jirga should be formally integrated into Pakistan’s existing Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) framework under the Dispute Resolution Councils (DRCs), operating strictly as accredited mediation units rather than parallel courts. The DRCs should remain the principal regulatory authority for ADR governance, responsible for registration, certification, procedural standards, oversight, and enforcement. Jirgas would derive legal validity solely from DRC accreditation, ensuring that customary practice is brought within the constitutional order. In this arrangement, DRCs provide legal authority, while jirgas ensure local accessibility and community acceptance in areas where formal........

© The Nation