Legal and cultural barriers to alternative dispute resolution in Pakistan
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Date
2025-07-22
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UMT Lahore
Abstract
The country is experiencing a backlog of more than 2.2 million cases in its judicial system and this has resulted to a lot of delays in business and this has a negative effect on investor confidence. In this regard, the alternative dispute resolution (ADR) such as arbitration and mediation provide a very valuable alternative to the traditional processes of resolving commercial disputes, as it produces faster, cheaper and less confrontational method of commercial dispute resolution. Regardless of this possibility, only a few legal and cultural factors are limiting the level of ADR adoption in Pakistan. This thesis examines these issues in the context of the commercial sector in Pakistan by looking at it with a doctrinal comparative approach insofar as the Singapore based ADR system is a globally acclaimed system of efficiency and reliability. There is a narrow area in the ADR of Pakistan regarding legal aspects which is bound by the old laws, the most significant of which is arbitration act of 1940 which permits excessive interference with the court which loosens the grip of the finality and the swiftness of arbitration. Culturally, one of the greatest obstacles is resistance within the legal fraternity which usually is fueled by an adversarial attitude and fears of having to lose business income through more swift ADR procedures. Based on experience of the well-developed system with the anchoring institutions such as Singapore International Arbitration Centre (SIAC) and Singapore International Mediation Centre (SIMC), in this study they have provided the list of practical reforms. Making the ADR framework of Pakistan more solid is not a question of legal improvement per se, but it is a strategic economic necessity.