PESHAWAR: Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI) chairman Imran Khan has demanded that the Frontier Constabulary (FC) be posted back in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the KP police department be adequately equipped to enable it to gather intelligence, cross-border movement of Afghan refugees be controlled and funds be provided for the ‘internally displaced persons’ to ensure law and order.

“The FC was created to guard KP from Fata but it has now been deployed in other parts of the country. We strongly demand repatriation of the FC,” Mr Khan said at a news conference here on Monday.

“We made this demand when we came to power in the province last year but now we desperately need it. Police don’t have proper training to deal with terrorists,” he said.

“Of the 23,000 FC men only 155 were deployed in Peshawar, which bore the brunt of terrorism from Fata,” he said.

The PTI chief said the province was exposed to fallout of the military operation launched in the Federally Administered Tribal Areas.

He said the federal government had been requested to recruit 5,000 displaced people in police to strengthen security in the districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa hosting them.

The province has suffered more terrorist attacks than other parts of the country and since the formation of the PTI-led coalition government there have been 170 such attacks in KP and 101 in other areas. Therefore, he said, there was an urgent need to strengthen security in the province.

He said KP also required immediate financial help from the federal government to support the two million IDPs. Basically, it’s the responsibility of the federal government to support the IDPs, but KP has been looking after them because they are in a miserable condition.

Plea to regulate Afghan refugees’ cross-border movement

“Health facilities are overstretched in Bannu and other districts and we need assistance to facilitate them to the desired level,” he said.

“We don’t foresee immediate repatriation of the IDPs and it will take at least a year, so we need to set up temporary schools and provide them other facilities.”

Mr Khan said he feared that marginalised and desperate displaced youths could go the Taliban way if their immediate needs weren’t addressed.

“We also demand immediate blocking of illegal cellphone Sims and provision of equipment to track telephone calls and reach the terrorists and kidnappers,” he said. He said use of illegal subscriber identity modules should be declared an offence and this would make a huge difference with regard to effectively improving the security situation.

“The government issues 500 Pakistani visas to Afghans at the Torkham border everyday but an estimated 15,000 to 20,000 people cross the border. The illegal movement takes place because we don’t have a system to track these people and their activities here,” Mr Khan said.

He said Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was home to 1.7m Afghan refugees — a big burden for local people — and the government should hammer out a plan in collaboration with United Nations agencies for their repatriation.

The PTI chief said the provincial government would assess the security of schools and take internal as well as external measures in this regard.

In this connection, police have developed a system to share information through cellphones.

Mr Khan expressed concern over the backwardness of Fata and said there had been no serious effort to integrate it with the rest of the country. There should be brainstorming to seek ways and means to bring the tribal population into the mainstream. “Fata residents should be consulted on the FCR (Frontier Crimes Regulation) and reforms brought to pave way for development of the people there,” he said.

The people in Fata are still being ruled under laws made by the British rulers and no effort has been made for their participation in national politics.

Earlier, Mr Khan visited the Army Public School and the homes of the principal and some students killed in the recent terrorist attack and offered condolences and sympathy to their families.

He placed bouquets at the gate of the school’s auditorium where most of the students and teachers had been killed in cold blood. He prayed for the victims and paid homage to the courage of Tahira Qazi, the principal, who had sacrificed her life while trying to save children.

The PTI chief also attended a briefing on law and order in the province. Provincial Home Secretary Syed Akhtar Ali Shah and Inspector General of Police Nasir Khan Durrani apprised him of the emerging challenges related to terrorism and law and order.

Published in Dawn December 23th , 2014