CHITRAL: The Levies force in Chitral won’t be merged with the regular police and will remain attached with the district administration as usual, deputy commissioner has said in his capacity as its ex-officio commandant.

The 494-man force is primarily tasked with guarding the long and porous border of Chitral with Afghanistan and keeping a vigilant eye on the infiltration from Afghanistan and checking smuggling of contraband from and into the district. Its amalgamation with regular police force had been anticipated for last couple of months.

Confirming to Dawn, Chitral deputy commissioner Khurshid Alam Mehsud said the recent government’s decision about the merger of Levies and Khasadar forces with the police was applicable only to the merged districts.

He said there was no proposal under consideration regarding the reorganisation of the Levies force in Chitral as it was achieving the goals efficiently for which it was raised many decades ago.

Ajmal Khan, a retired Levies official, said the force had also helped maintain traditions and culture of Chitral by continuously maintaining a strong polo team.

He said the most players of Chitral polo team belonged to the force, which also raised horses for its players.

The force also repulsed a number of attempts of infiltration of looters and plunderers from Nooristan area of Afghanistan while it lost five of its jawans in Damil area to militants in 2011, he added.

Published in Dawn, April 13th, 2019