In response to the deteriorating security situation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, a conflict-prone province bordering Afghanistan, the PTI-led provincial government and opposition parties convened their own all-parties conferences, using the traditional term Jirga (grand assembly). These meetings were held amid a renewed surge in terrorism, a trend that has persisted since the inception of the War on Terror in 2002. The resurgence of the Pakistani Taliban following the return of the Taliban regime in Kabul, after the U.S.-led coalition's withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, has further intensified challenges for Pakistan’s security apparatus.

During the War on Terror, the Pakistani state increasingly recognised that militant groups were exploiting the erosion of traditional institutions—both in the Sama (settled districts governed by the provincial administration) and in the Ghar (formerly FATA, previously federally administered areas). This erosion was compounded by the rise of a nouveau riche class comprising professional middle classes, business elites, and actors enriched by the illicit drug trade and the war economy. Additionally, capital inflows from labour migrants working in urban centres like Karachi or abroad in the Gulf states, Europe, and East Asia reconfigured local socio-economic hierarchies and challenged the authority of traditional tribal elites.

Economically marginalised and socially isolated, traditional elites such as the Maliks and Khans lost their centrality in local governance. With their electoral influence waning and hegemonic status eroded, many were displaced by newer elites enriched through war, narcotics, and migration. Rather than serving as effective intermediaries for restoring the state's writ, many Maliks became liabilities—over a thousand were assassinated in former FATA, and others sought refuge in urban areas. This breakdown of traditional authority structures accelerated with the rise of insurgency and the failure of tribal elites to mediate the crisis effectively.

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The situation was further complicated by the 18th and 25th Constitutional Amendments, which aimed to devolve power and integrate FATA into the national administrative framework. While well-intentioned, these reforms undermined traditional structures without providing viable institutional alternatives. Though they nominally empowered provincial and local governments, these reforms coincided with an aggressive push by the state to extract natural resources—oil, gas, copper, and timber—vital for national capital accumulation. Yet, provincial institutions could not assert full control, requiring the continued involvement of federal security forces.

 Measures such as the restoration of tribal quotas in educational institutions and the formation of a committee to explore reinstating the jirga system in former FATA signal a shift toward traditional mechanisms of control

Crucially, a convergence of interests between the federal government, international capital (especially Chinese investments under CPEC), and the Pakistani........

© The Friday Times