Policing the frontier: Over 100 new levies to be recruited for FR Peshawar

APA outlines plans to improve paramilitary force’s performance .

PESHAWAR:

In order to increase the strength of the levies force in Frontier Region (FR) Peshawar, the political administration will recruit 128 new personnel who will be trained by the security forces.

Management hurdles

Officials familiar with the matter told The Express Tribune that at the moment 202 levies personnel are deployed in FR Peshawar. However, they said, since the FR is a vast semi-mountainous area, it is difficult for a small force to manage it even with the help of the Frontier Constabulary and security forces which are also deployed there.

One insider said the levies are usually an ill-equipped force in the agencies and they face the same issue in the frontier regions.

For the 202 levies men deployed in FR Peshawar, there are only 77 AK-47’s available which speaks volumes of how neglected the force is, he said.

He added the levies force is also not paid on time which also causes hindrance in their performance. “Many people from poor families join the levies due to a lack of employment opportunities in the region,” he said.

Improving the force

Assistant Political Agent (APA) Muhammad Arif told The Express Tribune the region’s levies force is not active because all personnel cannot be armed. However, he maintained the administration has brought the matter to the interior ministry’s notice and has been promised that arms will be made available.

“We will recruit 128 men on merit by October 15 and the candidates will have to pass a physical fitness test,” said Arif.

Taken

He said 28 positions had been left unfilled since December 2012 when militants kidnapped and subsequently killed more than 20 levies personnel, and later five others quit. “We are recruiting one hundred more men and with the additions, the levies will become a proper law-enforcement authority,” added Arif.

Elaborating on training facilities for the force, Arif said previously new recruits were trained by the Frontier Corps, but now they will be trained by the army for six months.

The APA explained the basic salary of the recruits will be Rs5,000 but with the addition of allowances it will be increased to Rs12,000.

According to Arif, Governor Mehtab Abbasi is taking a keen interest in the affairs of the tribal areas and has decided the levies should be trained in traffic management, bomb disposal, investigation and evidence gathering techniques.

Published in The Express Tribune, September 28^th, 2014.