PESHAWAR, Jan 13: The National Accountability Bureau has asked for the record of police recruitment in Bannu and Dera Ismail Khan following reports of irregularities in the two politically-significant southern districts of NWFP.

Official sources said that the NAB had asked the NWFP Police to furnish details of recruitment of police constables after it was reported that massive irregularities had been committed to accommodate political heavy weights from the two districts.

NWFP Chief Minister Akram Khan Durrani and leader of the JUI-F, Maulana Fazlur Rehman hail from Bannu and Dera Ismail Khan, respectively. A senior official in the National Accountability Bureau confirmed having sought record of police recruitment in the two districts but said that a formal investigation would be launched only after it was established that irregularities had indeed been committed.

There were reports (suggesting) candidates had been hand-picked for the job and we think we must look into the matter and see if that is true, said one official. The recruitment of 125 police constables in Bannu and 95 in Dera Ismail Khan was part of a larger plan to induct about 2,000 policemen in the NWFP.

Government officials, however, insisted that recruitment had been fair and that selection committees had been formed to maintain transparency at all the districts level by incorporating police officers from other districts.

But they do acknowledge that there had been tremendous pressure to recruit candidates recommended by the two political heavy weights. "There was tremendous pressure and there might have been instances when some candidates might have been unduly favoured at the expense of deserving applicants," an official said.

But he said that he was sceptical if NAB would be able to find any irregularity in the recruitment given the fact that criteria laid down for recruitment had been followed as far as education qualification and height and chest measurements were concerned.

The only way to induct those recommended by the high and the mighty of NWFP, said one investigator, would have been through granting extra marks in written and oral examinations to the 'chosen' candidates. "Anybody investigating the case will be shooting in the dark. By the end of the day, they may not get anything," another official said.

Whether the probe by NAB into police recruitment in Bannu and Dera Ismail Khan will turn into a formal investigation remains to be seen but sources said that it was not the first time that investigators into white collar crime were looking into 'certain actions' taken by the MMA government but the NAB could not get any worthwhile evidence to proceed further.

"There are allegations of vacancies-sell-out in Dera Ismail Khan and manipulation of (recruitment test) results in Bannu. Such allegations are at times very difficult to prove.

This would be a sort of a probe which may be converted into a formal investigation if there is any evidence of irregularity or corruption," said a senior investigator.

Of particular interest for the NAB would be the conduct of incumbent DPO, Bannu, Dilawar Bangash, who is already in the focus of an ongoing investigation into the famous Malangay Case.

Sources said that the investigation was in the advance stage. These sources said that the NAB had brought the matter into the notice of the NWFP government and the NWFP Police department.