Ali Gohar
 | This article needs more citations. (April 2026) |
Ali Gohar | |
|---|---|
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| Born | Syed Ali Gohar 1956 Pakistan |
| Died | 2024 (aged 67–68) |
| Education | Quaid-i-Azam University (MSc) Eastern Mennonite University (MA) |
| Known for | Just Peace Initiatives |
Syed Ali Gohar (1956–2024) was a Pakistani restorative justice scholar. He was the founder and executive director of Just Peace Initiatives (formerly Just Peace International).[1]
Biography
[edit source]Ali Gohar was born in Kaala, a village in Swabi District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. Gohar holds an MSc in international relations from Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, and an MA in conflict transformation from Eastern Mennonite University, in Harrisonburg, Virginia.[2]
For thirteen years until early 2001, Gohar served as the Additional Commissioner of the Social Welfare Cell for Afghan refugees, a UNHCR project operating across 258 refugee camps in northern Pakistan, with programmes covering HIV/AIDS awareness, peacebuilding, and community development.[citation needed]
In 2001, he was awarded a Fulbright scholarship pursue his master's degree at Eastern Mennonite University's Center for Justice and Peacebuilding, where he worked closely with restorative justice scholar Howard Zehr.[citation needed] The two later collaborate on a revision edition of 'The Little Book of Restorative Justice' at the Pakistan-Afghanistan context.[3][2]
Shortly after returning to Pakistan in 2003 Gohar founded Just Peace International (now Just Peace Initiatives), a non-profit aimed at working for peace and justice through conflict transformation practices.[4] As part of this work, he received a United States Institute of Peace (USIP) grant to explore the principles of Jirga as peacebuilding.
In 2006, Gohar joined Oxfam Great Britain as a campaign officer to end honour killings and address violence against women in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province), before returning Just Peace Initiatives as executive director.[citation needed]
Notable work
[edit source]Gohar published a number of works on restorative justice and jirga practices. In June 2002, he led a workshop in Peshawar, Pakistan titled, "Conflict transformation and peace building in Pakistan and Afghanistan", addressing community peacebuilding and restorative justice.[5] In 2007 he produced at a thirteen-episode television program for a Pakistani television channel titled, "Why it's happened", examine the root causes of ethnic, tribal, and political conflict through interviews with police, religious scholars, jirga practitioners, and psychologists.[6]
He also wrote scripts for nationally broadcast television programmes addressing drug use, HIV/AIDS prevention, domestic violence, and honour killings.[7]
References
[edit source]- ↑ "Prominent social activist Ali Gohar dies in UK". Dawn. 28 September 2024.
- 1 2 Zehr, Howard; Gohar, Ali. The Little Book of Restorative Justice (PDF). The Little Book Series. Intercourse, Pennsylvania, USA: Good Books.
- ↑ "Who are We?". Archived from the original on 30 March 2012. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
- ↑ Shabab Ahmed, Zahid (18 August 2010). "Combining Modern and Traditional Justice Techniques: The Jirga in Pakistan". Insight on Conflict. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
- ↑ "Need for peaceful co-existence stressed". dawn.com. Dawn. 21 June 2002. Retrieved 4 April 2026.
- ↑ "Ali Gohar". Archived from the original on 1 December 2011. Retrieved 20 November 2014.
- ↑ Ali Gohar (2014). Bya sahar sho (in Urdu). Retrieved 12 December 2014.