PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has accepted a longstanding demand of the Levies and Khasadar personnel from the erstwhile tribal areas by approving the grant of pension to them.

The personnel were made part of the police department following the merger of the Fata with the province.

In a statement, the police department said before their merger with it, the Levies and Khasadar personnel weren’t entitled to pension and instead, their sons would be employed after retirement.

The police department that KP police chief Akhtar Hayat Khan formed a committee headed by additional inspector general headquarters Awal Khan to examine the longstanding demand for pension for the former Levies and Khasadar personnel.

It added that the committee’s recommendations were sent to the home department, which, considering importance of the issue, issued a letter to give away pension to all personnel merged with the KP police department under the prevailing laws.

The department said that all former Levies and Khasadar personnel were eligible for pension.

“With this decision, the longstanding problem of the police of the merged districts has been resolved.”

The Levis and Khasadar personnel had long been demanding the facilities enjoyed by the provincial police officials since their merger with the police department.

On May 13, All Fata Retired Khasadar and Levies Force Action Committee announced it would besiege the offices of the district police officers in all seven merged tribal districts and lock them permanently if the demand for regularisation of their services like the provincial police’s was not met within 24 hours.

Action committee member Said Jalal said offices of the district police officers would be locked across the merged districts if their 22-point charter of demand was not accepted.

He also urged DPOs in the merged tribal districts to vacate their offices without resistance and warned there would be backlash if the personnel were stopped from laying siege to those offices.

On May 9, the committee members demanded equal rights and implementation of all 22 points agreed upon regarding their service structure on the pattern of KP police.

They told a news conference at the Jamrud Press Club that they held several meetings with police chiefs since the extension of the Police Act to the merged tribal districts but their demands had yet to be met.

The committee members said authorities promised them equal perks and privileges like their colleagues in other KP districts soon after the Act’s extension at the time of merger, but they were not provided with those legal and basic facilities, which disheartened the newly-converted tribal police force.

Published in Dawn, May 23rd, 2024