Malakand district enjoys unique status even after Fata’s merger

PESHAWAR: While the government and everyone has focused on the merger of the erstwhile Fata with Khyber Pakhtunhkwa province, Malakand district has been ignored as it continues to have a status different from rest of the province with Levies instead of the police tasked to maintain law and order.

The district has been enjoying a semi-tribal status despite being part of the Malakand division where all the other districts have administrative system similar to the rest of KP and the country. There is still no police in Malakand district and the law and order is being maintained by the Levies force.

Malakand district would continue with its unique administrative structure as nothing has been decided about it yet.

“There are 1,835 Levies personnel performing policing duty in Malakand district. The Levies in Malakand are not part of the 28,000 personnel that the PTI govt has approved to be inducted into the regular KP Police,” a source told The News. Similar is the status of the Levies that are assisting the police in Chitral, Lower Dir and Upper Dir districts of Malakand division. The rest of the administrative system in Chitral, Lower Dir and Upper Dir, however, is similar to other districts of the province. Mainly the police maintain the law and order in these districts like the rest of the province and Levies assist them as per the need. “There are 460 Levies personnel in Chitral, around 800 in Lower Dir and another 1,263 in Upper Dir for maintaining law and order along with the police. Like the Malakand Levies, they too are not part of those being inducted into the KP Police,” the source informed. The source added that though all the Levies personnel in the former seven tribal agencies and six Frontier Regions are being inducted into the KP Police after the merger with KP, there is still no plan for induction of the Levies of Malakand district and other three districts of Malakand division, at least during the current process of merger. The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police chief confirmed that the Levies of Malakand district and rest of Malakand division are not part of the 28,000 personnel being inducted into the police force. “Under the current plan, only the Levies of the seven newly-merged districts of erstwhile Fata and six Frontier Regions are being inducted into the KP Police. The Levies of Malakand, Chitral, Upper Dir and Lower Dir are a separate issue,” Inspector General of Police (IGP) Mohammad Naeem Khan told The News when approached by this scribe. To ensure smooth induction of the Levies and Khassadar force from the merged districts with the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police, senior officials of the KP Khassadar force have already been given shoulder promotion and posted as DSP and other positions. The services of the Levies and Khassadars have been protected under the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Levies and Khassadar Force (Maintenance, Regulation and Protection of Service) Transition Ordinances 2019. The Levies of Malakand division, however, have found no mention in the ordinances.