Planning how to police

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata), which are to be merged with the province as per a decision finalised in 2017, are considered among the most restive regions in the country. The crime rate is high as is the threat posed by militancy. For this reason, the ratio of security personnel to civilians is highest in KP compared to any other part of the country. Policing then is a vital need in the area. A new challenge in this respect is being presented to the provincial government as it attempts to merge the semi autonomous Levies force and the informal ‘khasadar’ force with the regular police. This means around 28,000 personnel will need to be brought into the police network.The ‘khasadar’, a force set up during the colonial era with persons selected from within a tribe entrusted to enforce order in their area using their own guns, had initially protested the move to induct them in the police force. Set up in line with the colonial policy of attributing collective guilt, the khasadars initially believed the move could rob them of the traditional power. The post of ‘khasadar’ is effectively hereditary and can be sold or bartered off within tribes. However, the assurance that these persons will be guaranteed regularised salaries as well as other perks including pensions appears to have calmed the situation.Many challenges, however, still lie ahead. Inducting some 15,000 Levies and an almost equal number of ‘khasadars’ will cost the KP government an estimated sum of Rs4.5 billion. In addition, training will need to be provided, particularly to the ‘khasadars’, who unlike the Levies receive no formal training. The Levies will be managed by the provincial home department, while the police force continues to exist as a department of its own. The presence of many different security agencies in KP and the former tribal areas has already been criticized in the past. Given that maintaining law and order will be a critical duty for the KP government as the province is effectively enlarged with the addition of the seven ‘tribal’ agencies, it is essential that policing be streamlined and the separate forces organised in a manner that will allow them to function uniformly and efficiently.

from The News International - Editorial http://bit.ly/2IcvJg4