QUETTA: Despite opposition from both treasury and opposition benches in the provincial assembly, the Balochistan government has merged the Levies force of three districts — Quetta, Gwadar and Lasbela — into the provincial police force with immediate effect.

The decision, approved in a meeting chaired by Chief Secretary Shakeel Qadir on Jan 6, was made after consultations with the district administrations concerned regarding the shifting of operational command from district Levies to district police. An official notification was issued on Saturday.

Under this decision, a total of 1,116 Levies personnel, including officers and other staff, will be absorbed in the Balochistan police in these three districts.

The notification stated that the director general of the Levies Force in Balochistan had sent a letter to the additional chief secretary of the home department, recommending the merger of Levies personnel: Quetta Levies into Quetta Police, Gwadar Levies into Gwadar Police, and Lasbela Levies into Lasbela and Hub Police.

1,116 personnel to be absorbed in police in three districts

A total of 1,116 personnel from the Levies Force in these three districts have now been merged into the police force.

These include various ranks such as weapons inspectors, clerks, risaldars, naib risaldars, dafadars, khassadars, jamadars, havildars, soldiers, wireless operators and footmen, spanning Grade 1 to Grade 11 positions.

Specifically, 346 Levies personnel from Quetta, 381 from Gwadar, 220 from Lasbela and 219 from Hub have been integrated into the police forces of these districts.

The Levies, police stations, vehicles, weapons and other official equipment will be transferred following a thorough assessment.

During the winter session of the Balochistan Assembly, which concluded last week, both the opposition and some members of the government strongly opposed the decision to merge Levies into police.

They demanded that the government withdraw the decision and instead equip Levies with modern weapons, bulletproof vehicles and other necessary equipment to strengthen the force.

It is important to note that the Levies Force in Balochistan had been merged into the police during the coalition government led by Jam Yousaf.

However, in 2008, the Nawab Aslam Raisani-led PPP coalition government reversed that decision and restored Levies as a separate force.

The Levies Force was responsible for policing around 90 per cent of Balochistan, while police operated in the remaining 10pc of the province.

Published in Dawn, January 12th, 2025