PESHAWAR, Jan 29: Experts here on Thursday stressed the need for gradual mainstreaming of tribal areas and reforming its basic administrative structure.

They gave the call for a change in the existing social and administrative structure at a panel discussion entitled “Tribal Governance” organised by the Centre for Public Policy Research at the Institute of Management Sciences.

Speaking on the occasion, Brig (retired) Mehmood Shah, a former secretary, security, Fata, explained the current legal status and administrative structure of the tribal areas bordering Afghanistan.

He said the 1973 Constitution placed Fata out of the jurisdiction of national institutions, adding: “MNAs from tribal areas cannot make any legislation for their own areas.” He lamented that there existed no national policy for Fata at the moment.

Answering a question, Mr Shah said brining radical changes in the basic social and administrative fabric of the tribal areas was a long-term process, adding: “Tribal people are not ready for the change of today’s modern world.”

Tribal people, in his view, wanted to live like tribal, saying: “Bringing them at par with the rest of the country will take a lot of time because their traditional society cannot go under radical changes at once.”

Also, he said, there were a number of mafias within the tribal society, which did not want to reform the administrative structure of the tribal areas. “Political agents and Frontier Crops are part of the said mafias,” he added.

Mr Shah reminded that during his tenure as Fata’s security secretary, he had prepared a comprehensive reform package for the tribal areas, which he said was kept secret to avoid resistance from the mafias opposing the process of change.

He agreed that the tribal people did not have equal citizenship rights as the people in settled areas were enjoying, but he argued that the process of change in tribal areas was not possible overnight and for this purpose a lot of work had to be done first to prepare tribal people for the process of change.

Tahira Abdullah, a human rights activist, criticised the Frontier Crimes Regulations, saying: “This black law gives the feeling of segregation and inequality.” She lamented that no change in the social and administrative structure could be made since independence.