PESHAWAR, Aug 19: The government will establish 17 checkpoints in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas along the border to improve security and curb smuggling.

The checkpoints, to be manned by customs, political authorities and Frontier Corps (FC) personnel, will be established at different points right from Bajaur up to South Waziristan Agency.

The plan was approved at a meeting here on Wednesday. NWFP Governor Syed Iftikhar Hussain Shah presided over the meeting. FC Inspector-General Maj-Gen Hamid Khan, Chief Secretary Ejaz Ahmad Qureshi, Home Secretary Abdul Karim Qasooria and other senior officials attended the meeting, said a handout.

The meeting reviewed different aspects of the plan in order to make functional the proposed checkpoints and decided that all the checkpoints instead of those in South Waziristan Agency would become functional from Sept 1.

Customs Collector Liaqat Ali Agha informed the meeting that the interior ministry had issued directives to prepare a plan to choke the flow of smuggled goods close to the border.

These checkpoints would be manned by the officials of customs collectorate besides scouts personnel and khasadar force. The meeting was told that customs checkpoints established at different points in the NWFP had been removed and mobile squads disbanded.

Mr Agha said that the new policy would not only choke the flow of smuggled goods but also eliminate harassment by anti-smuggling agencies, thus giving relief to the common commuters.

Governor Iftikhar directed that these checkpoints must prove effective. He assured that any problem or difficulty, if surfaced, would be removed. He further said that the customs officials should not worry about their safety and security because they would be jointly working with the law-enforcement agencies. Meanwhile, the governor chaired a meeting here on Wednesday to discuss the plan for installation of TV boosters in Fata.