KARACHI
Chairman Policy Advisory Board FPCCI, Zahid Hussain has strongly commended the Law and Justice Commission of Pakistan for prioritizing Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) to tackle the mounting crisis of banking defaults.
FPCCI President Atif Ikram Sheikh and Mian Zahid Hussain, while speaking at the high-level meeting of the Law and Justice Commission of Pakistan held in Islamabad on April 30, 2026, stated that the nation’s judicial system is currently groaning under the weight of an unprecedented backlog, with official statistics indicating that more than 2.37 million cases are pending across the superior and district judiciaries. Within this overwhelming bottleneck, banking tribunals and civil courts are inundated with around 30,000 recovery suits and execution petitions related to non-performing loans. These financial disputes have effectively paralyzed hundreds of billions of rupees, stifling corporate liquidity and restricting the economic growth of the country. The vital session was chaired by the Chief Justice of Pakistan and was attended by key stakeholders, including Federal Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb, Attorney General Pakistan Mansoor Usman Awan, FBR Chairman Rashid Mahmood Langrial, President of the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) Atif Ikram Sheikh, Chairman of the FPCCI Policy Advisory Board Mian Zahid Hussain, and the President of the Pakistan Banks Association.
Mian Zahid Hussain said that during the extensive deliberations, it was observed that traditional litigation in banking defaults often stretches over multiple years, eroding the value of the disputed assets and inflating legal expenditures for both the creditors and the borrowers. Mian Zahid Hussain highlighted that the current ratio of non-performing loans remains a significant hurdle to private sector credit expansion, particularly for Small and Medium Enterprises. When commercial banks are forced to provision heavily against toxic loans trapped in prolonged judicial stays, their capacity to lend to productive sectors is severely curtailed. Implementing robust Alternative Dispute Resolution mechanisms, such as commercial mediation and out-of-court arbitration, offers a pragmatic and rapid mechanism to clear this backlog and recycle capital back into the formal economy.
