Relocation of FC: Court serves contempt notices against interior ministry

“The court’s orders are continuously being violated and we are compelled to issue contempt notices,” says CJ.

PESHAWAR:

The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Tuesday issued contempt of court notices against the interior ministry’s secretary, joint secretary and section officer for failing to comply with court orders.

The notices were served after the ministry failed to relocate the Frontier Constabulary (FC) platoons back to Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P), despite making a commitment to the court on November 6, 2012 to do so.

A division bench comprising Chief Justice (CJ) Dost Muhammad Khan and Justice Abdul Latif Khan was informed that a letter had been issued to the department concerned and all FC platoons will be relocated to K-P, however, time was sought for making the necessary arrangements.

The bench observed that the ministry should have made arrangements as soon as it made a commitment to the court last year.



“The court and even the election commission have written a letter to you to relocate the FC so that general polls are conducted peacefully, but you took it lightly. You consider court order a joke,” CJ Khan remarked, adding that the ministry needs to be served contempt notices.

Interior Ministry Senior Joint Secretary Akhtar Jan Wazir said since the FC was being paid by the federal government it can call and depute the constabulary anywhere in the country and even abroad.

CJ Khan replied that after the 18th constitutional amendment, law and order falls within the domain of provincial governments and the FC was created to be deployed at the buffer zone (border between the tribal and settled areas), not to serve VVIPs.

“The court’s orders are continuously being violated and we are compelled to issue contempt notices,” Khan said, directing the accountant general Pakistan Revenues (AGPR) to stop the salaries of those served with contempt notices till further orders.

The issue surfaced after the provincial government filed an application before the court in May 2012 seeking its help to relocate the troops. The court later converted the application into a writ petition.

On November 6, Interior Deputy Secretary Muhammad Mureed told the bench that the platoons have been deployed in Karachi, Gilgit-Baltistan and Islamabad and 50% of them were assisting the armed forces in the ongoing military operation in the tribal areas. He had assured the court they would be relocated to K-P by January 6, 2013.

On March 3, the Election Commission of Pakistan sought the intervention of the prime minister and stressed upon moving the FC personnel back.

Published in The Express Tribune, April 3^rd, 2013.