KP Police short of officers needed for deployment in tribal districts

PESHAWAR: As the authorities are preparing to extend the police force to the erstwhile tribal areas in the coming months, the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police bosses have once again asked the government to address the issue of shortage of officers on a priority basis.

The provincial authorities have been demanding the ‘hard area’ status for KP to end the shortage of police officers in senior grades. However, the demand hasn’t been heeded.

The province would need a large number of officers of the Police Service of Pakistan (PSP) in senior grades once the government decides to extend the force to the tribal areas that were recently merged with KP.

An official said the Central Police Office in Peshawar has once again written to the provincial government to take up the issue of dearth of police officers with the federal government. The letter mentioned that the acute shortage of officers since long is affecting the performance of the KP police.

“A letter sent from the Central Police Office to the secretary Home and Tribal Affairs Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on September 24 stated that there is only a single grade-21 Additional IGP in the entire province against the sanctioned posts of five. The shortage in grade-21 is 80 percent of the sanctioned posts,” an official said on Tuesday.

The police official added that there were 15 grade-20 deputy inspectors general (DIGs) in KP while the sanctioned positions were 19. Besides, there are a total of 15 grade-19 senior superintendents of police (SSPs) in KP against the sanctioned 35 posts.

The letter mentioned that 40 grade-18 police officers were posted in the province while the sanctioned strength in this grade is 54. The total shortage of the PSP officers is 42. Junior officers have been posted on these positions on acting charge basis or by giving them shoulder promotions.

The provincial police authorities on a number of occasions had asked the Centre through the provincial government to declare the province ‘hard area’ like Balochistan and Gilgit-Baltistan so that police officers in senior grades are posted in KP for a mandatory term.

Senior officers have to serve for a certain mandatory period in hard areas to meet the criteria for being posted in top grades. A large number of senior officers were transferred to Balochistan in recent years after the province was awarded the ‘hard area’ status.

When the PTI was in power in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, the police authorities of the province had asked the federal government of Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) to declare KP a ‘hard area’ due to the law and order situation in the province. However, the federal government did not heed the demand.

Now when the PTI is in power in the Centre, it remains to be seen if the federal government will consider the request or turn it down.

Due to the shortage of officers, DIGs are posted as additional IGPs, while SSPs are working as DIGs. The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police in December last year had to approve a policy to post grade-17 deputy superintendents of police as district police officers due to non-availability of cops in the required grades.