Law and order: Balochistan to legitimise control of FC

Official says FC high command will be expected to obey the CM.

ISLAMABAD:

The Balochistan government has proposed certain “administrative and legislative” measures to help bring the Frontier Corps under its executive control, an official told The Express Tribune.

“The idea is that the FC, whose assistance had been acquired by the provincial government from the ministry of interior to control law & order, should discharge its duties in accordance with the directives of the chief minister,” said the official on the condition of anonymity.

Under the proposals — which entail amendments in the existing rules and procedures —the FC high command would be expected to practically obey the chief minister while assisting the provincial authorities in the maintenance of law and order.

The chief minister should be authorised to write the Annual Confidential Report (ACR) of the inspector general of the FC, normally an army officer of the rank of Major General serving in Balochistan, according to one of the proposals.

“Legally, the FC inspector general is under the command of the chief minister but he never recognised that position for all practical purposes as his ACR , based on his performance, is evaluated by his bosses in the army General Headquarters (GHQ ),” the official explained.



The Balochistan government plan was worked out after years of struggle to bring the FC under its administrative discipline after the ministry of interior placed its services at the disposal of the provincial government to control law & order in the province.

The issue again surfaced recently when the Pakistan Peoples Party’s (PPP) senior leader and architect of the landmark 18th constitutional amendment, Senator Mian Raza Rabbani said that FC must be subservient to the Balochistan government in order to ensure peace in the restive province.

Chief Minister Dr Abdul Malik says he backs Rabbani’s observations on this issue. Last week he said that the FC should be instructed that it was subservient to the provincial government.

In a recent address to the National Assembly, Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan had said that his ministry could provide civil armed forces to the provinces in accordance with their requirements and it would ensure that they complied with the directives of the provincial government. The previous PPP-led government in Balochistan had been complaining throughout its five-year rule that the army-led FC followed only its own chain of command.

Nisar categorically told the lower house that such a situation would not be tolerated in future because the civil armed forces had no option under the constitution but to operate in accordance with the directives of the provincial government.

Senator Rabbani said he welcomed Ch Nisar’s statement about the FC but would advise him to go beyond statements.

“Constitutionally the paramilitary force dispatched to Balochistan to assist the law enforcement agencies is bound to be under the administrative discipline of the provincial government,” Azad said.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 25^th, 2013.