PESHAWAR, March 6: The Centre has decided to disband the Frontier Constabulary as a federal law enforcement agency from July, giving its control to the NWFP. Also, the federal government has asked Sindh to raise its own constabulary to deal with the law and order situation.

“The main objective is to do away with multiplicity of law enforcement agencies,” a senior government official told Dawn, adding the decision had been taken at a meeting presided over by President Gen Pervez Musharraf.

The official said that President Musharraf had told the recent meeting that he wanted the army, Frontier Corps and the police to stay as the federal forces, while all other law enforcement agencies were to be handed over to the provinces.

The official said that effective from July 1, eight to 10 wings of the Frontier Constabulary would be merged with the Frontier Corps for the primary function of patrolling the borders, while the remaining force would be integrated with the Khasadars and Levy force to control the law and order situation in the tribal areas.

Established in 1913 following the merger of Border Military Police (BMP) and Samana Rifles, the Frontier Constabulary remained a federal force even after the partition of the subcontinent, funded by the federal government. About 45 platoons of the Frontier Constabulary are presently on the law and order duty in Sindh and paid for from the province’s kitty. Another 16 platoons are helping the Punjab police.

The total strength of the Frontier Constabulary is 320 platoons.

Sindh has now been asked to raise its own constabulary. Punjab and Balochistan already have their constabularies.

Under the decision, the FC would train existing force of Khasadars and Levy force, about 22,000 in all, and turn them into a regular force with proper pay and service structure.

The training would begin in July and the forces would be deployed with the primary function of policing in the tribal areas.

Some government officials, however, point out that there were fewer than the estimated 22,000 Khasadars and Levy force on the ground as in most cases the tribal Maliks, who get Khadaris as a favor from the government, often drew salaries without having to perform their duty.

The officials estimated that the actual strength of the Khasadars and Levy might not be more than 5,000. Skepticism has also been expressed about the pay cost of the new regular force. One official said that currently the Khasadars and Levy drew pay of Rs800 million per annum exclusive of any allowances. He said that the regularization of their service and pay scales would push the bill beyond the billion-rupee mark.

The Frontier Constabulary’s budget for the current financial year has been pitched at Rs1.8 billion.

While the federal government has agreed to continue funding the Frontier Constabulary, despite placing its services at the disposal of the NWFP government, there are apprehensions that the provincial government might eventually be asked to foot the bill. As one official put it, the federal government would require huge funds to pay for the new pay scales, allowances and construction of new infrastructure, buildings, weapons and uniform for the constabulary, comprising largely of the Khasadars and Levy force. “Increase in pay scales etc would cost a lot of money and I don’t know whether any exercise has been done to calculate the accruing costs of reorganisation and restructuring,” the official said.