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| September 27, 2005 | Tuesday | Sha'aban 22, 1426 |
Levies-police merger to help curb crime: official
QUETTA, Sept 26: The newly appointed director general of Balochistan Levies, Nawabzada Hamayun Khan Jogezai, has dispelled an impression that merger of levies with police would convert the province into a police state.
Rather, he said, it would be helpful in reducing crime rate in rural areas of the province.
Talking to newsmen in his office here on Sunday, he said that levies would work under police officers after the proposed merger.
“Levies men would work in rural areas as police officials”, Mr Jogezai said and added that rural and urban police existed in various developed and under-developed countries.
He said that crimes were also reported in levies controlled areas but levies avoided to register FIR in most of the cases and tried to resolve issues according to tribal customs while police registered FIR and took up cases in courts of law.
Replying to a question, he said that complete merger of levies with police would take at least ten years. However, he said, despite Balochistan levies’ merger the federal levies would remain intact and it would work as a separate force in Balochistan.
He told a questioner that the total strength of levy force in Balochistan is over 12,000 that also include 35,000 personnel of federal levies.
Responding to another question, he said that levies would be made a disciplined force, provided with the latest weapons and given training on modern lines to enable them meet any challenge.
However, he said, financial problems were affecting the government’s efforts in this direction.
Replying yet another question, he said that the provincial government had approved 1200 new vacancies for levies force and soon recruitment would be started in different districts according to their requirement.
DRUGS CASE: Senior Vice-Chairman of the Baloch Students’ Organization (United), Bashir Zeb Baloch, on Sunday condemned arrest of the organization’s activist Abid Baloch and alleged that he had been implicated in a false drug case.
Speaking at a press conference at the press club, Bashir Zeb alleged that law-enforcement personnel had humiliated women during the search of Abid Baloch’s house in Mund.
He claimed that the government after failing to force BSO members to give up their struggle for national rights had devised a strategy to implicate them in drug cases to defame them.
He alleged that federal law-enforcement agencies took Abid Baloch to his house on Sept 23 and claimed seizing 1kg of hashish during search although he had been apprehended a few days earlier.
He said the government had arrested hundreds of Baloch nationalist activists but failed to produce them in courts to prove the charges against them.
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