FC draws up plan to mark its centenary celebrations
December 03, 2013
PESHAWAR: The Frontier Constabulary (FC), which assists the police and army in maintaining peace all over Pakistan, is celebrating 100 years of its sacrifices rendered in protecting lives and properties of the people.
The centenary of the FC will be celebrated by arranging the centennial week in the second week of December. The force was established in 1913 by amalgamating the then Border Military Police and Samana Rifles. It has sacrificed around 300 men and an equal number were wounded during the last several years in fighting militants and outlaws.
The paramilitary force has its headquarters in Peshawar and is headed by a senior officer of the Police Service of Pakistan (PSP) Abdul Majeed Marwat as commandant. He is assisted by two deputy inspectors general (DIGs) as deputy commandants, Ghaniur Rahman Wazir and Nisar Ahmad Khan Tanoli.
“Comprised of around 26,000 personnel, the Frontier Constabulary has been protecting lives and properties all over the region, including Balochistan, Sindh, Punjab, Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Kashmir, over the last 100 years,” Abdul Majeed Marwat told The News.
The force is administratively divided in 17 units or districts, i.e. Gilgit-Baltistan, Dassu, Swat, Oghi, Islamabad, Malakand, Peshawar, Hayatabad, Shabqadar, Bara, Hangu, Daroyba, Bannu, Manzai, Tank, Darazinda and Karachi.
The FC platoons have been engaged in fighting terrorism and militancy alongside the Pakistan Army in the Frontier Regions of Bannu, Kohat, Tank, Lakki Marwat and Peshawar as well as South Waziristan, Orakzai and Khyber tribal agencies.
The FC platoons have also been involved in conducting operations against militants along with the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police in Bannu, Buner, Charsadda, Mardan, Nowshera, Kohistan, Mansehra, Abbottabad, Battagram, Haripur, Hangu, Peshawar, Swat, Kohat, and Dera Ismail Khan districts.
“There are 547 FC platoons stationed or deployed in these districts. The organisation of FC platoons is tribal-based. Some of the important tribes that contribute men to FC include Khattak, Afridi, Wazir, Gilgiti, Orakzai, Swati, Mohmand, Marwat, Bangash and Mehsud,” FC Deputy Commandant Nisar Khan Tanoli told The News.
The force lost one of its commandants, Safwat Ghayur, in a suicide attack outside his office in Peshawar Saddar on August 4, 2010. The force had lost another commandant Eric Charles Handyside during an operation in April 1926.
The incumbent FC Commandant Abdul Majeed Marwat survived a suicide attack on his car on Fakhr-e-Alam Road near the FC headquarters in Peshawar in March this year. At least 13 people were killed and several others, including Marwat, were wounded in the attack. Over 80 recruits of the FC were killed in the twin suicide bombing outside its training centre in Shabqadar a couple of years ago.
The force is facing a number of problems including acute shortage of arms and ammunition and protective equipment, dearth of PSP officers, shortage of personnel due to ban on recruitment, lack of powers to search, seize and arrest suspected persons and contrabands, lack of professionally trained and equipped intelligence unit, absence of regional command structure, dilapidated infrastructure, over-commitment with the Pakistan Army, disparate compensation package for martyrs and computerisation of record.
There is no proper compensation package for the slain soldiers like that of the regular police. A cop of the regular police gets Rs3 million cash along with a piece of land, recruitment of a son or brother as ASI and full salary to the family till the age of 60. In FC, a slain soldier is given only Rs1 million. The salaries of FC soldiers are also far less than those of policemen.
The Frontier Constabulary is governed under the Frontier Constabulary Act, 1915 and North-West Frontier Constabulary Rules, 1958. The pivotal function of FC as enshrined in FC Act 1915 is to police the border between the settled districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the tribal areas against tribal incursions, criminal gangs and marauders operating across the buffer zone.
However, owing to the prevalent reign of terror, the FC has been entrusted with the task of supporting law-enforcement agencies in controlling law and order situation and providing security to diplomats, vital government installations, VVIPs/VIPs, multinational companies and hydropower projects. The paramilitary FC is the only civilian force carrying out its operations and performing duties all over the country.
The centenary of the FC will be celebrated by arranging the centennial week in the second week of December. The force was established in 1913 by amalgamating the then Border Military Police and Samana Rifles. It has sacrificed around 300 men and an equal number were wounded during the last several years in fighting militants and outlaws.
The paramilitary force has its headquarters in Peshawar and is headed by a senior officer of the Police Service of Pakistan (PSP) Abdul Majeed Marwat as commandant. He is assisted by two deputy inspectors general (DIGs) as deputy commandants, Ghaniur Rahman Wazir and Nisar Ahmad Khan Tanoli.
“Comprised of around 26,000 personnel, the Frontier Constabulary has been protecting lives and properties all over the region, including Balochistan, Sindh, Punjab, Gilgit-Baltistan and Azad Kashmir, over the last 100 years,” Abdul Majeed Marwat told The News.
The force is administratively divided in 17 units or districts, i.e. Gilgit-Baltistan, Dassu, Swat, Oghi, Islamabad, Malakand, Peshawar, Hayatabad, Shabqadar, Bara, Hangu, Daroyba, Bannu, Manzai, Tank, Darazinda and Karachi.
The FC platoons have been engaged in fighting terrorism and militancy alongside the Pakistan Army in the Frontier Regions of Bannu, Kohat, Tank, Lakki Marwat and Peshawar as well as South Waziristan, Orakzai and Khyber tribal agencies.
The FC platoons have also been involved in conducting operations against militants along with the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police in Bannu, Buner, Charsadda, Mardan, Nowshera, Kohistan, Mansehra, Abbottabad, Battagram, Haripur, Hangu, Peshawar, Swat, Kohat, and Dera Ismail Khan districts.
“There are 547 FC platoons stationed or deployed in these districts. The organisation of FC platoons is tribal-based. Some of the important tribes that contribute men to FC include Khattak, Afridi, Wazir, Gilgiti, Orakzai, Swati, Mohmand, Marwat, Bangash and Mehsud,” FC Deputy Commandant Nisar Khan Tanoli told The News.
The force lost one of its commandants, Safwat Ghayur, in a suicide attack outside his office in Peshawar Saddar on August 4, 2010. The force had lost another commandant Eric Charles Handyside during an operation in April 1926.
The incumbent FC Commandant Abdul Majeed Marwat survived a suicide attack on his car on Fakhr-e-Alam Road near the FC headquarters in Peshawar in March this year. At least 13 people were killed and several others, including Marwat, were wounded in the attack. Over 80 recruits of the FC were killed in the twin suicide bombing outside its training centre in Shabqadar a couple of years ago.
The force is facing a number of problems including acute shortage of arms and ammunition and protective equipment, dearth of PSP officers, shortage of personnel due to ban on recruitment, lack of powers to search, seize and arrest suspected persons and contrabands, lack of professionally trained and equipped intelligence unit, absence of regional command structure, dilapidated infrastructure, over-commitment with the Pakistan Army, disparate compensation package for martyrs and computerisation of record.
There is no proper compensation package for the slain soldiers like that of the regular police. A cop of the regular police gets Rs3 million cash along with a piece of land, recruitment of a son or brother as ASI and full salary to the family till the age of 60. In FC, a slain soldier is given only Rs1 million. The salaries of FC soldiers are also far less than those of policemen.
The Frontier Constabulary is governed under the Frontier Constabulary Act, 1915 and North-West Frontier Constabulary Rules, 1958. The pivotal function of FC as enshrined in FC Act 1915 is to police the border between the settled districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the tribal areas against tribal incursions, criminal gangs and marauders operating across the buffer zone.
However, owing to the prevalent reign of terror, the FC has been entrusted with the task of supporting law-enforcement agencies in controlling law and order situation and providing security to diplomats, vital government installations, VVIPs/VIPs, multinational companies and hydropower projects. The paramilitary FC is the only civilian force carrying out its operations and performing duties all over the country.
