FC platoons deployment: PHC serves notices to Rehman Malik, interior secretary

Contempt of court proceedings may be initiated if replies not submitted in time.

PESHAWAR:

The Peshawar High Court (PHC) issued show-cause notices to Interior Minister Rehman Malik and the interior secretary seeking their reply over their failure to relocate the Frontier Constabulary (FC) to the province within the given timeframe.

The notices were issued by a PHC division bench headed by Chief Justice (CJ) Dost Muhammad Khan and Justice Khalid Mehmood while hearing a petition filed by the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) government.

The provincial government had told the court that a large number of FC platoons were deployed outside K-P despite governance problems inside the province. The court was requested to help bring back these platoons.

During the hearing on Thursday, Ministry of Interior’s Joint Secretary Akhtar Jan Wazir told the bench that currently 108 FC platoons are assisting the Pakistan Army in the tribal areas while 60 platoons have been deployed in Sindh and another 15 in Islamabad and Gilgit-Baltistan.

Wazir said the FC could not be relocated within the timeframe due to Muharram and Tahirul Qadri’s long march on January 14.

The joint secretary requested the deadline be extended till June.  However, the home department’s counsel said that since the forces were not relocated in two months, there is no guarantee that they will be returned by June. “Why can’t Rangers, army or other additional forces be deployed instead?” the counsel questioned.

The bench observed the court had been assured that all FC platoons stationed outside the province will return before January 6. It added, however, adding that court orders had been violated, amounting to contempt of court.

FC is meant to be deployed on the buffer zone to keep check on people entering the settled areas from the tribal belt and not for VVIP security, CJ Khan said. We do not understand why the interior ministry is being so irresponsible, the bench remarked, adding that it remains unconvinced by the justification for the delay.

Issuing notices to the interior minister and secretary, the bench observed that if replies are not submitted, contempt of court proceedings will be initiated against them. The hearing was adjourned for February 19.

Speaking to The Express Tribune, Home Secretary Muhammad Azam Khan said: “We need our platoons back at any cost before the elections. If you say security has deteriorated across the country because of militancy in the tribal areas then send the personnel back so we can tackle the situation.”

Published in The Express Tribune, February 1^st, 2013.