AN ANALYSIS OF DISPUTE RESOLUTION COUNCIL

Abstract

The current study deals with an exploratory investigation of the Dispute Resolution Council Mardan. It aims to examine the mechanism and challenges to dispute resolution and its effectiveness in dealing familial cases. The theoretical underpinning for this study is Structural Violence proposed by John Galtung which assumes that violence is rooted in the cultural processes and becomes the violence when occurred in the structure of the society. Keeping in view the literature gap and the theoretical underpinning, the researchers embarked on the path of investigating the effectiveness of Dispute Resolution Council Mardan. Based on the qualitative research design, the researchers interviewed 15 cases and reached the saturation point on the note that the Dispute Resolution Council was relatively less effective in tackling familial disputes. It was, nevertheless, found that the monetary and civil disputes were more effectively tackled by the Dispute Resolution Council than that of familial ones. It is suggested on the part of the researchers that the Dispute Resolution Council should have an expert in theological studies so as to tackle familial cases more effectively than it presently does.