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The administration in the Agencies is run by the Political Agents and
in the special areas attached to the districts by the respective Deputy
Commissioners. The Political Agent is the `Kingpin' around which revolves
the entire Agency administration. He is accountable to the provincial
governor who also acts as an Agent to the President for tribal areas. The
Political Agent coordinates the functions of nation building departments
in the Agency and controls the tribesmen through a system of tribal and
territorial responsibility, which, of course, is the key stone of the arch
of political administration. The Political Agent usually does not
interfere in the affairs of the tribesmen and intervenes only when a grave
situation arises. He exercises his benign influence in case of the
outbreak of tribal hostilities. The success of a Political Agent largely
depends upon his personal influence and ability to tackle a difficult
situation. He is assisted in his work by a small band of officers,
including Assistant Political Officers, Tehsildars and Naib
Tehsildars.Each Agency depending on its size has about 2 to 3 Assistant
political Agents, about 3 to 4 Tehsildars and 4 to 9 Naib Tehsildars with
the requisite supporting staff. Each F.R is headed by the DC/DCO(like for
F.R. Peshawar DC/DCO Peshawar and so on) and under his supervision there
are one Assistant political Agent and about 1 or 2 Tehsildars and Naib
Tehsildars and requisite supporting staff. The Tehislder and staff assist
the P.A. in performance of his functions. Each Agency has roughly 2 to 3
thousand Khasadars and levies and 5 to 9 Wings of F.C for maintenance of
law and order in the Agency and borders security.
The Agencies were set up by the British when the closed-door and Forward
Policy did not achieve the desired objectives. The Khyber was created as a
special Political Agency in 1878, Kurram in 1892 and Malakand, North and
South Waziristan Agencies came into existence in 1895-96. Mohmand Agency
was added to the existing strength of the Agencies in 1951 and two new
Agencies, namely Bajaur and Orakzai were created in December 1973 with
headquarters at Khar and Hangu respectively. The peculiar feature of the
Agency administration is that tribesmen have been left to be governed by
their customs and traditions. The British control too, was only confined
to roads, military installations and places of strategic importance.
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