A report about the alternative dispute resolution mechanism put in place in Mingora has highlighted that the committee formed for the task lacks women’s representation. At a community meeting held at the recently set up model police station in the district, the participants were all men. The purpose of the meeting was to evolve a police liaison committee (PLC) with community members and police representation in it. These developments in Mingora are part of government’s efforts to promote alternative dispute resolution structures to discredit and discourage the unjust and inhuman decrees of jirgas and panchayats. But if the problem of non-inclusion of women in decision-making processes at grassroots level is to continue, there will hardly be any emancipatory potential in these new structures. Despite the government’s claims about having taken steps to ensure women empowerment, ordinary women in remote areas are still unaware and uninformed about forums at which they can raise their issues and seek help. Formal criminal justice system is already a male-dominated affair. We hardly come across women in leading positions, whether in the police force, in prosecution departments, or in the judiciary. Police stations are among some of the most chauvinistic spaces. There are considerable barriers women complainants are confronted with when visiting police stations with grievances. One step towards resolving this structural discrimination built into the formal criminal justice system could be through representation of women in the newly formed committees for dispute resolution. The provincial authorities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa must not avoid taking this step on grounds their culture won’t allow that. That is a bogus argument. There are many examples of women from KP and adjoining tribal belt who have, despite all odds, excelled in various professions and are now public figures. So, while gender-based discrimination is part of the region’s culture, fierce resistance against such discrimination by women and men is also part of the same culture. If the KP government highlights just the former aspect of the region’s culture, it reflects more on its priorities than on the region’s culture. We hope that it pays attention to women’s relentless struggle against discriminatory practices and makes arrangements for their representation in the newly formed committees for dispute resolution. * Published in Daily Times, January 23rd 2018.