Fata districts: Top KP officers removed for opposing police parallel system

PESHAWAR: The cause of abrupt transfer of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Inspector General of Police (IGP) Salahuddin Mahsud and Chief Secretary Naveed Kamran Baloch seems to be their stance on giving the police a major role in the merged districts of the erstwhile Fata, a source said.

The two officers wanted to introduce a police system in the merged tribal districts similar to the one in vogue in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and the rest of the country, sources said adding that they had rejected giving Levies a parallel role to police in the merged districts.

Sources claimed that KP governor, and federal and provincial bureaucracies are against introducing a police system in these districts. However, some government circles claimed that these officers were replaced over non-cooperation with the government.

On the other hand, Governor Shah Farman rejected this impression, saying no parallel Levies system was being introduced in the merged Fata districts. He said Levies would be made part of police force gradually. “No one should be rendered jobless,” said the governor. He said 28,000 people were working in Levies forces currently, and it was a responsibility of the government to protect the families of these personnel.

However, Salahuddin Mahsud told this correspondent that it was decided in the apex committee meeting that Levies Bill 2019 would be implemented. Under this bill, all powers were to be given to the police in the merged Fata district. It was also decided that the draft bill would be finalised in a meeting on Tuesday (tomorrow). Nevertheless, he added, some circles had opposed the police system in these districts.