Interviews

Here, the interviews complement the observations so as to provide more significant insights into the behaviour and practises of local elites. There are two types of ethnographic interviews: semi- structured and unstructured. In semi-structured interviews, the respondents highlight areas which are of prime importance to them, whilst enabling the researcher a degree of flexibility to point the respondents towards a number of pre-defined themes (Jones, 2013). Unstructured interviews are exploratory, with no predefined agenda, and are more effective in informal encounter discussions (Mann and Stewart, 2000) (see next section). In my fieldwork, I adopted the semi-structured interview method, and in total I conducted 30 semi-structured interviews. This included conducting 20 interviews with Maliks. The remaining interviews were conducted with those who work in the bureaucracy, politicians, academics and civil society members. I interviewed elites from diverse backgrounds, and even amongst the elites there were people who were high up and those less so, and, as such, my interview techniques adapted accordingly. For instance, the level of formality increased when interviewing elites.

In FATA I devised a strategy of using the services of my gatekeepers to arrange interviews via the snowballing method. At the beginning I agreed in principle to pay £140 to some gatekeepers for

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arranging interviews with local elites. This offer was solely initiated by me as a token of gratitude for the services provided. This amount may significantly increase for outsiders conducting a similar kind of research. I had to use my familial links to negotiate an appropriate amount for two purposes. Out of the full amount (£140), half was to be given to the gatekeeper for their time, assistance and taking care of my personal security. The remaining amount compensated my respondents using the ‘ethos of reciprocity’ (Willot, 2009), i.e. the knowledge gained through their input and giving something back in return. My gatekeepers informed me that reciprocating a respondent is a good way of building a rapport, and that this is considered normal practise in such situations.

One of my gatekeepers in FATA is an active social worker seeking governance spaces, often seen engaged in multiple local level workshops and arranging political gatherings on a routine basis. The original plan was to conduct interviews in an office-cum-house rented by a group of Pashtun nationalists. The nationalists felt threatened from the security agencies and the Taliban in particular by holding political views often seen as contradictory to national interests. However, later the site was cancelled as I was informed by the gatekeeper that the house was being watched by agencies. Therefore, a new plan was devised to conduct interviews in safer and more informal settings. Luckily, most of the respondents had migrated to Hayatabad due to the ongoing political instability in the FATA region. As per this plan, my gatekeeper accompanied me when approaching the Maliks to their personal residence located in the relatively safe areas of Hayatabad and Jamrud Tehsil. More so, I invited them to an even safer place, namely a room located in a public office which was allotted to guests of senior management. These rooms were located in a well-guarded area of Hayatabad, and I had managed to secure access to them for some time by using my contacts. The use of gatekeepers was extremely useful in arranging interviews with Maliks. As I will explain later in this chapter, due to political instability and ethical issues, I had to arrange the next round of interviews in the political administration office.

Most of my interview questions were open-ended. This was purposely designed to gain a deep understanding of the ways in which my respondents make sense of the PPA. The checklist used (rather than a questionnaire), was mainly semi-structured and designed to examine the impact of the proposed changes on the institutional structure of Maliks in their daily governance roles. I had a general idea of the kind of themes I wanted to investigate. I assumed before the research fieldwork that the extension of the PPA will possibly activate discourses that are relevant to the use of power–knowledge relationships. This effectively concerns how significant specific knowledge is for strengthening or weakening the position of a Malik. In the interview questions, I focused on the ways in which the Maliks interact with state actors, so as to understand the processes that animate or strengthen the

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relationships between Maliks and state actors. The checklist explored the potential strategies with which the Maliks create spaces aimed at their social and legal repositioning as eligible political actors. It was a rare occurrence for the local elites in Khyber to be visited by a researcher. For most of my respondents it was their first experience of giving interviews, therefore many displayed a sense of excitement that they had been approached, as this depicted a sense of importance, and that their voices would be heard or even broadcast. For some, it was an opportunity to express to a wider audience their passions and frustrations.

From the interview discussions it was clear that the Maliks opposed any change in institutional structure (see Chapter 6). In the beginning I asked direct questions related to the particular advantages of FCR for Maliks in order to explore their particular avenues of interests. Most of the respondents would evade discussions involving shared benefits in the misappropriation of resources as practised by Maliks. In fact, the focus was primarily on a vague presentation of their daily governance performance and its importance for the FATA region. In the interviews I would adopt a ‘soft’ approach, which concerned the adoption of informal discussions. Most of the discussions were formed around indirect questions related to particular events or stories related to the economic and political challenges that they faced in their daily governance duties.

Before each interview, I sought consent from the tribal Maliks on whether I could record their conversations. All my respondents willingly agreed to be recorded; although I felt some respondents feared whether their viewpoint would be shared with the political administration, and particularly those who were critical of the administration. As I will explain later in this chapter, my prime concern was to ensure all ethical considerations throughout the interview process. I also discuss later how I dealt with the challenges of developing trust with my respondents. At the end of each interview, I would ask the same questions ‘unrecorded’ and ‘informally’ to see the validity of their statements. These questions were asked with the consent of the respondents. On some occasions, I observed a deviation in their recorded interviews. Therefore, I took notes immediately after the interview to ensure that their views were properly documented. While most of the interviews lasted 50 minutes to one hour, some lasted only 20–25 minutes.