Policing tribal districts

Human experience has established beyond any doubt that effective policing is necessary for peace and prosperity. And, at the same time, it is also essential for the police to be people-friendly. So it is in line with this experience that the government has gradually been setting up police stations in the merged tribal district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwah province with the aim of bringing this region on a par with the rest of the province and of the country economically, educationally and socially. After the merger of the erstwhile Federally-Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) with K-P province two years ago, two police stations have so far been established in the merged tribal districts — the first in Wana, the district headquarters of the South Waziristan tribal district, in June 2019; and recently another one in Tirah valley in Khyber tribal district.

At the inauguration of the police station in Tirah, Peshawar Capital City Police Officer told the media that after the merger of the former Fata region with K-P province, the police force of the province has absorbed around 2,800 personnel of Levies and Khasadar forces. He informed that these officials would now be given modern police training and provided with the required weapons to establish the writ of the state and to ensure law and order. He said since the Tirah region bordered with Afghanistan, the police would have the added responsibility of enforcing law and order and also to keep a watch on intruders from the other side. However, there will be no restrictions on the movement of people from local tribes who live on both sides of the border and are used to freely crossing the border into the two countries for centuries. The police have been given strict instructions not to disturb these people. They will observe all local norms, traditions and customs. We hope that the police do not cling to their old ways in the whole country.

The government is taking steps to ensure a sense of participation among the people of the merged tribal districts and also to accelerate the process of development in the former volatile region.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 26^th, 2020.

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