Authors
Abstract
Despite the fact that progressive laws currently ensure that Muslim women have a right to inheritance, rural Pakistani society systematically denies the rural women a right to own land due to the socio cultural values and domination of the informal, male dominated, forums of dispute resolution. Albeit, the formal path offered by the Alternative Dispute Resolution Act 2017 and the court annexed mediation schemes, the design of the two mostly disregards the gendered power asymmetries. The paper is a critical discussion of the disjuncture between the official framework of mediation and the actual practice of land inheritance disputes among the rural women. It looks at how jirgas and panchayats bypass statutory law and how the primary barriers women face in accessing formal mediation are identified. The paper is based on comparative experiences in Bangladesh and Nepal and proposes a multi component institutional protocol to be followed by the Pakistani mediation centers, such as mobile women led mediation clinics, mandatory female co mediator panels, integration of inheritance law literacy and referral linkages with legal aid networks. The suggested model supports the access to justice and validity of the formal ADR in rural Pakistan.