QUETTA: Balochistan Chief Minister Nawab Sanaullah Zehri handed over 10 armoured personnel carriers (APCs) to the Balochistan Levies at a ceremony on Saturday, and promised to earmark funds for 20 more APCs in the coming fiscal budget.

In what is being described as a move to modernise the centuries-old force, the chief minister committed to providing better equipment, weapons and communication devices to the Levies personnel.

Later talking to journalists, the chief minister lauded the Levies’ performance, saying they were responsible for maintaining law and order in most parts of the province.

The APCs cost Rs29m each and, were purchased from the Ordnance Factory in Wah. The chief minister handed over the vehicles to Levies Director General Saleh Mohammad Nasar. Former Levies director Tariq Zehri, who had pushed the government to purchase the APCs, was also present at the occasion.

The chief minister reiterated that he wanted to strengthen the Levies force along the pattern of the police and other law enforcement agencies, and said that his government was implementing a plan that would make the Levies a model force for the defence of the lives and property of the people of Balochistan.

CM Zehri said the APCs had been procured in a transparent manner. He criticised the previous governments, claiming that they had supplied the Levies personnel with substandard bullets which rebounded and injured the soldiers.

Published in Dawn, June 4th, 2017