25 January 2004	Sunday	02 Zilhaj 1424

PESHAWAR, Jan 24: The commandant of the Police Training College (PTC), Hangu, has refused to accommodate 20 new cadets who were recruited by Chief Minister Akram Durrani from Bannu district , official sources told Dawn here on Thursday.

Commandant Jamal Shah had taken the stand that they did not fulfil the physical requirement underlined under the procedure for recruiting police cadets, the sources claimed.

A few months ago, the chief minister had recommended the recruitment of more than 35 cadets in the Frontier Reserve Police from his constituency. With the consent of Inspector-General of Police Riffat Pasha all of them were given jobs in the department without advertising the posts, the sources said.

Interestingly, most of them were not fit for the police services as they were not fulfilling the required chest width, and height, underlined in the rules for appointing a cadet, they said. But following their recruitments all the recruits were sent to the PTC, Hangu, for routine training.

Sources in Hangu said Mr Shah ordered the DSP concerned to check chest and height of the newly-recruited cadets. But the DSP gave a positive report and the new cadets started training.

Later, the PTC commandant himself checked the new recruits along with others and disqualified 70 policemen for training in the institute for not fulfilling the physical requirement, they maintained.