LANDI KOTAL: The newly-appointed district police officer of Khyber tribal district, Mohammad Hussain, appointed station house officers (SHOs) for three subdivisions -- Bara, Jamrud and Landi Kotal -- after formal directives were issued by the chief minister regarding merger of all Levies and Khasadar personnel into KP police within six months.

According to an order issued from the office of DPO on April 8, Malak Akbar Khan, Gula Jan and Sawal Zar Khan have been posted as SHOs of Bara, Jamrud and Landi Kotal respectively. They were previously serving as line officers of Khasadar Force in their respective subdivisions.

The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (Khasadar) Ordinance No 2 of 2019, dated March 12, authorised the newly appointed DPOs in the tribal districts to make all the postings, transfers and promotions of the khasadars, who were converted into police after the chief minister’s formal directives.

Levies men feel ignored in new appointments

The DPO in the meantime also conferred honorary positions of deputy superintendent of police (DSP) on at least five khasadars including Mazhar Afridi and Nawaz Khan from Bara, Jahangir Khan of Jamrud and Jamshed Shalmani and Sawal Zar Khan from Landi Kotal. Sawal Zar Khan was given dual ranks of SHO and DSP.

The khasadars, who were assigned new responsibilities as police officials, were at the forefront of the protest to demand ‘unconditional’ conversion of Khasadar and Levies forces into police after the extension of judicial system to the merged areas.

Eyebrows were, however, raised at the manner in which these officials were ‘elevated’ to the positions of SHOs and DSPs. No one from Levies Force has been assigned any new responsibility in the new setup.

Inquiries made by this scribe into the previous service record and educational qualification reveal that all the three SHOs have below primary qualification while two of them (Jamrud and Landi Kotal) were not even on regular payroll of the previous political administration.

The newly appointed SHO for Landi Kotal, Sawal Zar Khan, had retired from service in 2005. He managed to reinstate himself as a Subedar in Khasadar Force after acquiring a stay order from Peshawar High Court. His case for alleged premature retirement was still pending in PHC while he was drawing his monthly stipend from Teega fund, a fund under which the previous political administration was authorised to award shoulder promotions to such khasadars and pay them monthly salaries.

Jamshed Khan Shalmani, appointed as honorary DSP in Landi Kotal, had joined the Khyber Levies after getting retirement from Frontier Corps but was arbitrarily removed from service after he was found guilty of monetary irregularities few years ago.

He, however, succeeded in enrolling himself in Khasadar Force by using his contacts within the power corridors. He was serving as an ordinary khasadar when he was elevated to the position of honorary DSP.

Sources said that Jamrud SHO Gula Jan was also serving as line officer with being on the formal payroll of the previous administration.

A senior Subedar in Landi Kotal told this scribe that the newly appointed SHOs of Landi Kotal and Jamrud were ordinary ‘civilians’ as they had been relieved from their official responsibilities long ago.

DPO Mohammad Hussain, when approached, said that he being a new comer to Khyber tribal district was not yet fully aware of the Khasadar Force record, which was previously kept by the political administration. “All issues would be clarified and settled in due course of time,” he said.

He, however, said that those steps were taken under totally different and extraordinary circumstances.

Some Levies officials, with whom this scribe interacted, expressed their displeasure for being ignored in the new appointments.

Published in Dawn, April 12th, 2019