The unrest sweeping across Pakistan’s former tribal areas is strategically worrying

A serious review of policy is required in Pakistan’s restive, former tribal region, where anger and acrimony against the government is rising dangerously, and threatening a socio-political collapse in the area. 

The transition from systemic tribal laws and culture to a thoughtless system of governance has wreaked havoc. Senseless militarization has led to security forces being deployed illegally and without compensation on people’s lands, and the destruction on the little farm land that existed. In an area where clear demarcation of land shares was successful for centuries, land disputes have now broken out everywhere, leading to clashes and violence. 

The tribal system of collective responsibility is no longer operative, and committing crime has never been easier. People commit crimes and just disappear. Cases are registered and then linger on for months and years. Speedy justice does not exist, ever since the institution of jirga has been demolished.

The continuation of the status quo promises to be a constant source of border tensions and hostility between Afghanistan and Pakistan. 

Rustam Shah Mohmand

Now parties have to wait for months and years and pay hefty fees to new lawyers. On the one hand, punishing those who break the law has become nearly impossible because of the loopholes that exist in the law and on the other hand, tribesmen have to generate resources to pursue the case.

Corruption has become endemic. The local ‘riwaj’ and culture was so powerful that not just tribesmen, but even Hindus and Sikhs lived peacefully alongside their tribal brothers and sisters. These minorities lived for more than a millennium in the tribal areas happily and enjoying its peace and tranquility. With the induction of the army, the old systems broke down, forcing all minorities to leave the area.

Women in the tribal area were indispensable contributors to the local economy. They would graze cattle, collect firewood, bring fodder for animals and help in harvesting. Now because of the overbearing presence of security forces, women cannot venture out, much less pursue their regular work activities. The rural economy has almost collapsed . On top of all this is the monster of the border— 2,600 km and fenced.

It cannot be stressed enough how devastating the fencing of the border has been to the thousands of people living on both sides. In hundreds of cases, while the owner was on the Afghan side, his land was on the Pakistani side. Now such owners have been totally cut off from their ancestral properties. Relatives on both sides of the border can no longer visit their loved ones. And trade, which was the mainstay of the border economy, has been completely brought to a standstill.

That these facts on the ground are being consistently ignored, is alarming. The deep acrimony that now exists in the tribal areas and on the borderlands can cause instability and sour relations with a very important neighbor. Do the government and military not want to take this critical fact into account? Or is it just plain incompetence and the absence of vision and foresight? In any case, the continuance of the status quo promises to be a constant source of border tensions and hostility between Afghanistan and Pakistan. 

In a region of such great strategic importance, Islamabad is expected to show more foresight, wisdom and strategy in creating an environment suitable and conducive to deepen economic, trade and cultural ties with other countries of Central Asia using Afghanistan as a land-bridge. Here lies an opportunity wasted, and worse, a situation waiting to implode. Instability in the tribal areas and a mismanaged border has a direct impact on relations with Afghanistan. It is a lesson Islamabad should begin to learn sooner rather than later. 

- Rustam Shah Mohmand is a specialist of Afghanistan and Central Asian Affairs. He has served as Pakistan’s ambassador to Afghanistan and also held position of Chief Commissioner Refugees for a decade.