Ali Gohar

In 2007, as part of his work with JPI he produced a 13 episode TV program for Pakistani TV on violent conflict titled, “Why it’s happened”. As part of this program he interviewed police, religious experts, jirga practitioners, and psychologists in order to understand the root causes of ethnic, tribal, and political conflicts.

In addition to his book Gohar has published a number of works on Restorative Justice practices and the Jirga practices. In June 2002 Gohar led a workshop in Peshawar, Pakistan titled, “Conflict transformation and peace building in Pakistan and Afghanistan in a 2002 world” highlighting efforts at community peace building and restorative justice.

For 13 years (until early 2001) Gohar worked as the Additional Commissioner Social Welfare Cell for Afghan refugees (a project of UNHCR) in northern Pakistan. His work covered 258 Afghan refugee camps with programs in HIV/AIDS awareness, peacebuilding, and community development. In 2001 Gohar was awarded a Fulbright scholarship to Eastern Mennonite University’s Center for Justice and Peacebuilding to complete his Master’s Degree. While at CJP Gohar worked closely with Restorative Justice pioneer Howard Zehr. They would later collaborate on a revision of The Little Book of Restorative Justice specifically targeted at the Pakistan-Afghanistan context. 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. 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 began working as a campaign officer with Oxfam Great Britain to end honor killings and address violence against women in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province) of Pakistan. In December of that year he left Oxfam to return to Just Peace Initiatives as executive director.