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Tuesday March 19, 2024

Police letters to federal, KP govts go unanswered

Law and order

By Javed Aziz Khan
March 30, 2015
PESHAWAR: The federal and provincial governments are yet to respond positively to at least three letters sent regarding settling the core issue of tribal areas that are constantly causing lawlessness in the province, a source told The News.
“After facing serious law and order problems from the tribal areas, the KP Police authorities had written to the federal and provincial governments to find solution to the longstanding problems of Fata that will help improve the law and order in the province,” a source told The News on Sunday.
The source said that at least three letters were sent to the federal government regarding the issues related to the tribal areas. “In one letter on December 3 last year the bosses of the KP Police had suggested to the federal government to either integrate Fata into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa or make it a separate province. It also asked the federal government to provide the basic facilities and jobs to the tribesmen to end their sense of deprivation,” said the source.
On June 26, 2014 the KP Police through the provincial government wrote a letter to the federal government to recruit 1,000 tribal youth from Fata into police so they can better help the force maintain the law and order situation, particularly to check the threat from Fata.
The KP authorities wrote another letter on October 20 last year to take up the issue of non-registration of vehicles and non-implementation of Customs Act in Fata and Malakand to both the federal and provincial governments including the Federal Board of Revenue.
Another letter about Fata and its impact on law and order in the settled areas was sent to the federal and provincial governments on December 3, 2014.The letter asked the federal and KP governments to deploy all the platoons of the Frontier Constabulary on the boundary between the settled and tribal areas to stop infiltration into Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
It also asked for proper border management system on the border along with Afghanistan that is being crossed by the militants to enter Pakistan. The letter urged the government to regulate the entry of Afghans into Pakistan as well as the people of tribal areas into the settled areas.
It also suggested to develop a segregated land on the boundary between settled and tribal areas which is being patrolled by the Frontier Constabulary and give the police powers to take action in in case of hot pursuit of hardened criminals and militants.
“No significant response was given by the federal government to the three letters,” a senior official told The News.“Chief Minister Parvez Khattak wrote to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif on the issue of recruiting tribal youth but nothing significant has happened since then. Also, a meeting of the provincial government authorities was held regarding the non-custom paid vehicles but the progress in the case is slow,” said the source.
Owing to the poor governance and lack of administrative and legal reforms, Fata has become an administrative black hole whose native population feels isolated and marginalised.“Unfortunately, instead of introducing the much-needed administrative and legal reforms, the state machinery has so far been relying on a fire-fighting approach for addressing the issues confronting the tribal areas,” said the source.
The source added there was a dire need for understanding the issues and factors leading to the turbulence in Fata and addressing these by adopting solution oriented approach.Ironically, in the past no serious effort was made to identify the underlying currents and issues of Fata and proposing practical and result oriented solutions.
“On the issue of recruitment of the tribal youth into the police force, the KP chief minister has written a letter to the prime minister. There is nothing in my knowledge about the response of other letters in which the issues of Fata were taken up,” Inspector General of Police (IGP) Nasir Khan Durrani told The News when approached.