The article of Afzal A. Shigri “Back to the dark ages” (May 14) revolves around two issues. One with which I partly agree relates to the restoration of archaic levies system in Balochistan.

The backdrop of establishing Baloch levy is when British colonial influence started extending to Sibi region in the late forties of the 19th century, the head of Panri tribe, tendered his services to Shah Shuja, and was taken into British service with a number of his followers who were styled the “Baloch Levy”.

Subsequently when the British Government started paying money to Sardars to establish semi-militant forces, “levies” became part of the system. Levies were recruited and commanded by a Sardar who was required to maintain law and order in their respective areas in any way they liked.

After independence Sardari system continued unabated and levies were made responsible for maintaining law and order of 'B' area comprising 95 per cent of Balochistan.

When Zulfikar Ali Bhutto came to power he wowed to change the levy system in a phased order. However it was during Pervaiz Musharraf's rule in 2002 that levies were abolished and the entire province was given under the control of police.

Now the question here is has the police system established by the Musharraf government delivered during the last seven years of its hold on the system? Obviously, as it is evident from the subsequent events, the police has not done any better even in the 'A' areas leave alone in 'B' area of the province.

However, I do not agree with the provincial government's decision to revoke the decision without making a critical appraisal of the system; whether it worked better than the erstwhile levies. I think before taking a U-turn, the provincial government should have appointed a committee of very senior officers from Police and administration as well as public representatives to analyse the seven year working of the police (converted from levies) in maintaining peace and tranquillity in the province.

Regrettably in the present scenario the provincial assembly has approved the Balochistan Levies Force Bill 2010 in hasty manner instead of displaying sagacity by considering its merits and demerits.

Mr. Shigri has also derided of reversal of police force's control to revenue administration. On this count I do not agree with him. The Police order 2002 has proved to be a total disappointment not only from law and order point of view but for the reason that police has become law unto itself.

In the old system, the people could approach the District Magistrate for remedy for any highhandedness of the police, but now there is no check on them. The cases of police cruelty reported in the media regularly are sufficient to prove my point. Besides in any exigency or national crisis, the police is always found missing from the scene while senior police officers tend to defend their cadre.

Since under the constitution it was the right of provinces to legislate laws on 'Law and Order' and not the federal government, the Balochistan government has rightly regulated the working of the police department.

The Punjab government has also formed a committee to find ways of doing away with National Safety Commission to bring the police back from the control of Nazim to the control of the provinces and reintegrate investigation and operation as their separation proved more troublesome for the public.

ABDUL GHANI
Lakhi Sindh