Committee formed to engage with protesting Levies and Khasadars

Legal demands will be accepted, says K-P Apex Committee

PESHAWAR: A committee under Adviser to the Chief Minister Ajmal Khan Wazir has been formed to engage with the representatives of Levies and Khasadars to look into their legal demands.

The decision was taken in a meeting of the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Apex committee chaired by K-P Governor Shah Farman at the Governor’s House on Friday. K-P Chief Minister Mehmood Khan was also present in a meeting.

According to a statement issued after the meeting, the apex committee discussed the issue of induction of police in the tribal areas.

The K-P government on March 5 notified 25 police stations in the 25 sub-divisional headquarters of the seven tribal districts.

Since then, Levies and Khasadar forces — who have for long played a similar role in these areas — are protesting against the deployment of uniformed police.

According to them, their compensation packages are not at par with those given to police officers in the settled areas and other forces, and demanding the forces’ merger into police.

Meanwhile, the committee was informed, recruitment process against the sanctioned vacant posts of the health department in tribal districts would be completed at the earliest.

Recruitments in the education department, however, have been completed.

Other matters that were deliberated upon in the meeting include provision of a forum for alternate dispute resolution mechanism, land allotment for setting up small industrial estate for hunting and sporting arms industries of Dara Adam Khel.

Overall security situation of the province, especially tribal districts, besides progress in tribal districts affairs after the merger, was also discussed. 

Published in The Express Tribune, March 30^th, 2019.