KHYBER: Policemen from five tribal districts have decided to boycott the ongoing training as they say it is designed for constable level officials.

The decision was made in an emergency meeting of policemen from Khyber, Bajaur, Momand, Orakzai and South Waziristan tribal districts. The meeting, held at Police Training Centre at Shahkas in Jamrud, was presided over by Said Jalal, the chairman of the action committee of the tribal police.

The participants of the meeting alleged that the government did not fulfil the commitments made with them at the time of their conversion from Khasadar Force to police.

Mazhar Afridi, a spokesman for the tribal police committee, told Dawn after the meeting that most of the former khasadars had agreed to their conversion to police on the condition that no outsiders, except DPO, would be transferred to any other merged district.

He said that they were also promised that they would be absorbed in the police force in accordance with their ranks in the previous Khasadar Force.

He, however, regretted that provincial government backtracked on their promises and were forcing them to undergo the training, which was designed for constable rank policemen.

“The government is using different tactics to deprive us of our legitimate rights and deny us the promised privileges. It is not acceptable to us as we demand training in accordance with our rank and seniority,” he said.

Hikmat Afridi, another senior police official, questioned the rationale behind imparting physical training to senior officials whereas the same was designed for constables.

“We will not agree to the current training pattern at any cost as we have been deceived several times in fulfilment of the pledges made to us during our initial conversion to police force,” he said.

He demanded of the chief minister and police chief to uphold their commitments as majority of the tribal police were feeling deprived of their rights.

PROTEST: Customs clearing agents held a protest demonstration at Torkham on Tuesday against the imposition of regulatory duty (RD) on the import of fresh fruits from Afghanistan.

Terming the new duty a cruel step by Federal Board of Revenue, they said that it would cause losses to them while the prices of imported fruits would also increase in the local market.

Published in Dawn, September 7th, 2022