Pak-Afghan Border Fencing and its Impact on the Political Identity of the Shinwari Tribe

This study deals with the impacts of border fencing on the political identity of the Shinwari tribe,which strides the Torkham border. Both quantitative and qualitative methodologies are employed to investigate the potential impacts. The sampling for it was carried out on the basis of Disproportionate Stratified Random Sampling in quantitative methodology; and Subjective Sampling in the qualitative. It was known that fencing had affected the Shinwari tribe. The Shinwaris of Lwarrgai now find it difficult to meet their tribesmen in Afghanistan. Similarly, it has become difficult to maintain a single Shinwari identity as a tribal unit today. Moreover, it has been known that more than twenty-five per cent of the Shinwaris of Lwarrgai have relatives across the border. Add to this the lands which they own on the Afghanistan side of the border.