February 05, 2008	Tuesday	Muharram 26, 1429

PESHAWAR, Feb 4: The provincial government has decided to establish district public safety commissions in all districts of the NWFP, except in the Malakand region because there is no police force, it is learnt.

Another body, Criminal Justice Coordination Committee (CJCC), which is also a vital part of the Police Order, 2002, and supposed to be led by a district and sessions judge, has also not been formed in the Malakand region.

The Malakand region is neither considered a settled area nor a part of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas, but is called ‘protected area’.

People of the area have the right to elect their representatives for national and provincial assemblies and local bodies, but bodies like safety commissions are not allowed to be formed there. Although, under Article 92 of the Police Order, the National Public Safety Commission has the power to oversee functioning of the Federal Investigation Agency, Pakistan Railways Police, Anti-Narcotics Force, Frontier Constabulary, Pakistan Motorway and Highway Police, any other federal law enforcement-agency and anti-smuggling wing of customs exercising police powers.

An official source told Dawn that judicial officials concerned in the previous session had showed willingness to form the CJCC in the Malakand region, but the authorities concerned of the provincial government had forbidden them from doing so.

A representative of the Malakand Human Rights Committee, Ghufran Ahed, said the Police Order had been extended to the entire province, and Malakand could not be exempted.

He alleged that bureaucracy was not in favour of establishing bodies which could check highhandedness of law-enforcement agencies and violation of human rights.

Law and order, he said, was a provincial subject but Malakand had been given no representation in the meetings and that was why human rights were being violated with no check from the authorities.

It was learnt that prior to introduction of the devolution plan there used to be a political agent and a subedar major as head of the Levies Force. But now, the powers have been given to district coordination officer.