Legal concerns: Court serves notice to AGP, seeks reply on FC’s status

Asks whether a force meant to guard the K-P’s borders can be deployed in Sindh, G-B.

PESHAWAR:

The Peshawar High Court (PHC) on Tuesday served a notice to the Attorney General (AG) of Pakistan seeking his views on the Frontier Constabulary’s (FC) status.

The court questioned whether a force meant for Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) and the Frontier Regions (FR) can be deployed in Sindh and Gilgit-Baltistan (G-B) under the FC Act of 1919. The orders were issued while hearing a petition filed by the provincial government seeking the relocation of FC platoons back to K-P.



During the hearing, federal interior deputy secretary Akhtar Jan Wazir told a division bench headed by PHC Chief Justice Dost Muhammad Khan and Justice Musarrat Hilali the court’s orders have been implemented and all FC personnel have returned to the province.

FC official Sohaib Khan said 45 FC platoons were deployed in Karachi, 15 in Islamabad and five in G-B. These platoons have been additionally raised to help maintain law and order in the said areas, he added.

The bench, however, observed the FC personnel should be deployed back to their primary location, which is the buffer zone between K-P and the tribal belt, to guard the borders from infiltration of militants.

The court also withdrew the orders it issued in the last hearing to attach salaries and other emoluments of interior ministry officials for failing to comply with court orders.

In a separate case, the PHC suggested the K-P government purchase vehicle scanners to ensure security and avoid delays caused by manual checking.

Published in The Express Tribune, May 8^th, 2013.