PESHAWAR: Despite the Peshawar High Court’s orders to redeploy the Frontier Constabulary (FC) platoons back in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the interior ministry has instead demanded more troops for Dr Tahirul Qadri’s Jan 14 long march in Islamabad.

The KP government fears the act would further undermine security in the province.

The interior ministry, by evading reservations of the provincial home ministry, has directly ordered the commandant FC to send at least 4000 more personnel to Islamabad for providing security to participants of the march.

Meanwhile, the Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Thursday turned down the federal government’s request to extend the Frontier Constabulary’s presence in Islamabad till the Tehrik-i-Minhajul Quran (TMQ) long march, Express Tribune reported.

The court has issued show-cause notices to Deputy Interior Secretary Muhammad Mureed along with FC official Haroon for failing to redeploy 150 FC platoons to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The KP government had earlier filed a petition for the redeployment of the FC personnel deployed outside the province to provide security to VVIPs in Karachi, Gilgit-Baltistan and Islamabad.

The PHC had issued a final warning to the federal government to return the FC troops, saying their deployment outside the province would otherwise be made illegal. This deadline expired on Jan 6.

Moreover, official sources told Dawn.Com that the KP home department was first ordered by the interior ministry to withdraw 2500 men from the existing 83 platoons of the FC deployed in the province.

The sources added that after reluctance from the KP government to send in additional troops to Islamabad, because of the deteriorating law and order situation and militants’ threats, the interior ministry has now directly ordered the commandant FC to send the force.

The officials however said, the federal ministry has promised to return the force after the long march ends.