QUETTA: Balochistan Finance Minister Sardar Abdul Rehman Khetran has appealed to the federal government to take the burden of expenditures of law and order in the province, keeping in view the situation across the Chaman and Taftan borders.

The Balochistan government set aside Rs50 billion, which was 13 per cent of the Rs366.72bn non-development budget, for the law and order whereas Punjab and Sindh had announced much bigger allocations for the purpose, the minister told a presser at CM Secretariat on Sunday evening.

Of the Rs50bn allocation for law and order, Rs29bn was set aside for police and Rs13bn for Levies in the provincial budget, he said, adding that the Balochistan government also paid a huge amount annually to the Frontier Corps and other federal forces.

While asking the Centre to bear the burden of expenses for dealing with law and order in the province, Mr Khetran elaborated that the situation in neighbouring Afghanistan, ravaged by war for decades, was not good, whereas the other side, Sistan, was also adding to the challenge of stopping smuggling and influx of terrorist from across the borders.

“Balochistan is on the front line in this war and despite having meagre resources, [it is] not allowing this fire to spread to other provinces of the country,” the minister said.

Mr Khetran warned terrorism could resurge in other parts of the country if its frontiers turned weak. In view of this situation, the federal government should bear the burden of the expenditures for dealing with law and order in the province, he reiterated.

Published in Dawn, June 27th, 2022