PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police department has tasked the regional police officers of the province’s six administrative divisions with developing policing plans in the wake of Fata-KP merger in collaboration with the relevant civil and military authorities.

In June, the provincial Board of Revenue had merged the tribal agencies and Frontier Regions with the administrative divisions and districts bordering them.

The police department’s announcement came after Supreme Court Chief Justice Mian Saqib Nisar took notice of the nonexistence of the police force and courts in the erstwhile tribal belt after the enactment of 25th Constitutional Amendment.

Civil, military authorities to be consulted on matter

On Oct 9, the CJP fixed the matter before the apex court on Oct 15 and issued notices of the federal and KP government functionaries to appear before the court.

The provincial police department has written a letter to the civil and military authorities regarding the assessment of requirements and situation in tribal districts.

The Oct 11 letter noted that in order to understand ground realities in terms of counter-terrorism, crime and security dimensions to propose requirements and implementation plan for policing, the agency-wise teams of police officers have been constituted.

It said since the Pakistan Army had established the state’s writ in Fata and was dealing with the matters of counterterrorism and law enforcement there, it would be highly advantageous if the teams of police officers visited the army establishments in tribal districts for joint deliberations to assess the security scenario in Fata, suitability of existing security forces and developing policing plans.

The letter said since developing a policing plan for each merged area would involve extensive deliberations, data analysis and physical inspection of existing infrastructure of levies and khasadars and therefore, structured templates were being developed.

It said the relevant RPOs had been nominated team leaders for respective tribal districts and FRs for visits and that a team would consist of six to eight officers, including a SSP, a DSP, few inspectors and support staff.

The letter said Malakand RPO Saeed Khan Wazir would be the focal person for Bajaur, RPO Mardan Mohammad Ali Gandapur for Mohmand, city police chief of Peshawar Qazi Jamilur Rehman for Khyber, Kohat RPO Ejaz Khan for Orakzai and Kurram, Bannu RPO Mohammad Karim Khan for North Waziristan and Dera Ismail Khan RPO Dar Ali Khattak for South Waziristan.

Earlier on Tuesday, KP police chief Salahuddin Khan Mehsud chaired a meeting regarding Fata merger and decided about the early completion of homework for gradual, regular policing in tribal districts.

The meeting decided to dispatch senior police officers to the erstwhile Fata agencies to hold detailed deliberations with the relevant army officers and police committees to complete their assigned work within two weeks.

It decided that the police department would set up the counter-terrorism department, elite force, bomb disposal unit, special branch and other units in the tribal districts.

The participants agreed on the establishment of 13 new police lines, 95 police stations and 190 police posts in these areas and said that the police’s strength in the tribal districts would be 45,000.

They decided that around 25,000 personnel would be hired, while the rest would be khasadar and levies personnel, which worked in the region before the merger.

The meeting also decided that the police department would complete deliberations with the army and civil administration at the earliest.

It was decided that the officials would take local elders and other stakeholders into confidence over the introduction of regular policing in the region.

The meeting was informed that the police department has already asked the deputy commissioners of tribal districts to share the data of khasadar and levies personnel with the police.

Published in Dawn, October 13th, 2018