Ignoring crime and chaos in Pakistan’s former tribal areas is a strategic error

Across the former tribal areas, frustration against their new governance system is growing, with tribal elders recently demanding the restoration of an old system that had worked for them for generations. 

Apart from primary fact that the sheer numbers of crimes are on the rise ever since the traditional self-governing system was put to rest in 2018 and the former tribal areas merged with the federation, there are other reasons for the rejection of the current state of affairs. 

The induction of police, the judiciary and army have caused discontentment in a deeply sensitive geo-political area due to long delays in the disposal of civil and criminal cases.  Severe anti-merger sentiment is now on the rise. Corruption is widespread, causing frustration and disenchantment and the state’s occupation of farmland is a blow to productivity in a food scarce area. This land is now being used for housing colonies, army camps and office complexes. 

But it is the exponential rise in crime that remains the primary reason so many people in the former tribal areas are fed up of the current policing and justice system. Murder and kidnapping rates have risen, cases of intrusion into houses for theft—an unknown activity previously-- is fast rising, while murders due to land disputes have risen tremendously.

So, why did none of this happen before? In the previous system, there was a huge prohibitive limitation to robbery, theft and crimes of a serious nature. It was the fear of collective retribution which had been institutionalized and embedded in the psyche of the tribesmen. It may not have been a perfect system, but at the very least, it worked.

The system has broken down, there is land-grabbing and chaos, and no state institution is strong or sincere enough to stop it quickly.

Rustam Shah Mohmand

Civil cases would be referred to council elders who would give a verdict within a maximum time period of two months. On the basis of such findings, the political agent would issue a decree, and that was normally the end of the dispute. After the final verdict, a group of neutral tribesmen would arrange a reconciliation. 

Compare this with the present, where poor tribesmen are struggling to engage and pay lawyers and bribe policemen, while waiting years for a final decision to emerge. 

Now the induction of police and the judiciary have disrupted this generational, instutionalized balance in the area. Crime in the cases of disputed properties is most common and have taken many lives. Before, there was no settlement in the tribal area, land belonged to a section of a tribe with each family’s share well determined and well known. Now with the fear of retribution no longer there, criminals have laid claim to properties generating incidents of violence and death. Likewise, many influential tribesmen have seized properties which were owned by the whole tribe, fuelling widespread anger and despondency. The system has broken down, there is land-grabbing and chaos, and no state institution is strong or sincere enough to stop it quickly. 

Additionally, the introduction of the military into the area is causing anger and hostility. The tribes will not acquiesce into a situation where their land will be occupied by the military. This, they argue is against the very premise on which they decided to become part of Pakistan.

The performance of the police and the judiciary in the last five years has also contributed to the growing hostility and demands for the restoration of the old system. It is only a matter of time before all this anger and resentment assumes the shape of a political movement. 

Considering these areas are along the Afghan border, peace in the former tribal areas is of grave strategic importance. It appears Pakistan is not showing any foresight in dealing with issues like expelling undocumented Afghans, who have lived here for 40 years without any history or involvement in crime. This has destroyed whatever goodwill there was for Pakistan, as it is. From the looks of it, problems in a sensitive area are being created where there were none, and the fallout is grave indeed.

– 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.