Punjab cabinet panel approves recruitment in Border Military Police

LAHORE: The Punjab Cabinet Standing Committee on Legislation has allowed recruitment in the Baloch Levies and Border Military Police (BMP), subordinate agencies of the Punjab Home Department, in the tri-border region, adjoining the other three provinces of southern Punjab, after 20 years.

According to documents obtained by ‘Jang’, the security threats posed by the Baloch Liberation Army, Baloch Republican Army, Fitna-tul-Khawarij, Ladi gang, Istrana group and fugitives in the southern and eastern parts of the area, have forced the authorities concerned to revamp the BMP and the Baloch Levies.

Rajanpur and Dera Ghazi Khan are tri-border districts of Punjab, which are facing security challenges due to militancy from KP to the north, Sindh to the south and Balochistan to the west. The Border Military Police, formed from the Frontier Militia in 1893, had been protecting the borders of Punjab from the invaders of the Bugti, Khetran, Marri and Musa Khel tribes of Pakhtuns.

The Border Military Police are also credited with peacefully dismantling the fugitive camps in the Marri tribal areas with the help of local elders, and preventing the movement of Balochistan Republican Army fugitives from the check posts on Ladi gang and Sui Kashmore Road to Rajanpur by setting up three check-posts in Taman Khosa.

Due to the non-recruitment of the Punjab Home Department in the last 20 years, 940 out of the total 1,507 posts of the force (62pc) were lying vacant, while 54pc of the personnel on duty were above the age of 45.

The population of this area, which was 30,000 in 1901, has increased to more than 300,000. For Punjab, strengthening the Border Military Police strategically by recruiting personnel for it is very important to deal with the Baloch insurgency in the Taunsa area of the tri-border area.

As the insurgent groups are becoming more emboldened and criminal activities are intensifying, the need to further organise and enhance the capacity of the Border Military Police has become more urgent than ever. The crime rate in the tribal areas under the control of the Border Military Police (Koh Suleman), including other areas, is only 10pc compared to DG Khan where the police are deployed.