THE process of dismantling an old, colonial legacy in Balochistan has begun. Three districts of the province — Quetta, Gwadar and Lasbela — have been converted from ‘B’ areas into ‘A’ areas, with police taking over Levies stations in these locations. This follows the provincial cabinet’s decision in May to merge the Levies, responsible for maintaining law and order in rural ‘B’ areas, with the police, tasked with the same in urban ‘A’ areas. The arrangement had clearly been obsolete for a long time, even more so after terrorism began to pose unique challenges not encountered earlier. In such a vast province, where violent extremist outfits and separatist organisations were rapidly acquiring a foothold, the police’s footprint was limited to only 5pc, while the writ of the ill-equipped and poorly trained Levies extended over 95pc of Balochistan. Even though the Frontier Corps was given policing powers in 2012 to counter increased lawlessness in the province, the situation demanded an increased presence of a structured law-enforcement agency, like the police.

This is the second time such a merger is taking place. It had been initiated earlier in 2002 during Gen Musharraf’s time, until all the Levies had been absorbed into the police, but was reversed in 2008 during the PPP government. Then, as now, many of the sardars and tribal elders were against the merger. After all, Levies personnel are a locally raised force, beholden to the local tribal chief for their appointment rather than the government; shorn of any real authority, the Levies are reduced to performing little more than watch-and-ward functions. Even though during the first merger, they had been trained alongside the police by the army’s Special Service Group and are no longer the same ragtag force they once were, the pressure of tribal affiliations was once again a major stumbling block to their performance when ‘A’ and ‘B’ areas were revived. The arguments in support of retaining an archaic system designed to strengthen the feudal setup in service of the British Empire’s security needs do not hold water. Consider, for example, the perception that the incidence of crime goes up in areas where the police is deployed; the fact is, crimes committed in ‘B’ areas are often settled through the jirga system — presided over by tribal influentials — instead of being proceeded against through formal channels. Such parallel, regressive systems of ‘justice’ or policing have no place in today’s world.

Published in Dawn, August 4th, 2019