Despite the government’s continued rhetoric on trimming public expenditure, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has approved the establishment of a five-member Trade Dispute Resolution Commission (TDRC), projected to cost taxpayers Rs 6 crore annually in salaries alone.
The TDRC was formally appointed on August 22, 2025, under the Trade Dispute Resolution Organization (TDRO), which falls under the Ministry of Commerce. Each commissioner will be compensated with a monthly salary of Rs 10 lakh under the Management Position-I (MP-I) pay scale, along with customary perks.
According to media reports the three appointees hail from the public sector—Umer Dad Afridi, Javed Iqbal Khan, and Muhammad Hamoodur Rauf—while the commission also includes two private-sector professionals, Mohammad Rauf Khan and Riffat Inam Butt. Their tenure spans three years.
Critics Decry Expense, Overlap
Critics argue that the commission’s functions—adjudicating long-standing trade disputes—could instead be managed under existing governmental or digital frameworks, without necessitating a costly new body. A senior official, speaking anonymously, condemned the move as symbolic, stating, “The government talks austerity, yet expands bureaucracy—this is not reform; it’s costly window-dressing.”
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TDRC: Redundancy Within a Complex Framework
The creation of the commission adds to Pakistan’s extensive list of bureaucratic bodies, many of which critics say suffer from overlapping responsibilities and weak accountability. Established under the Trade Dispute Resolution Act, 2022, the commission is intended to enforce a structured mechanism for resolving export and import disputes.
However, the TDRO was originally formed in 2015 to address international trade disputes, but failed to operationalize effectively due to a lack of legal authority. It resolved only a handful of cases since its inception.
