Payment of salaries in doubt

ISLAMABAD: The payment of salaries and allowances to the newly-established 11,000-strong police force for Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa is in doubt after the federal government failed to release money from the Rs4 billion fund it had set aside for this purpose.

The special force was set up with the approval of the federal government to battle insurgency in the province. In order to head off this grim possibility, the provincial government has approached the federal government with a demand to quickly release the second installment from the fund. The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa administration had inducted 11,000 policemen with the consent of the federal government. The latter was supposed to provide cash to the province in six installments.

The first one amounting to Rs700 million had been released but the second one of the same amount is yet to be released. Secretary finance for the province Sahabzada Syed Ahmed in a previous meeting of the National Monetary Monitoring Committee had pointed out that Khyber-Pakhtoonwa needed Rs700 million to pay salaries and allowances of employees. When the secretary was contacted over the phone he said he did not check whether Rs700 million have been received or not.

He said the federal government had assured the province that it would keep receiving the money. He said the special police force was formed to establish peace in the province after the military operation against terrorists. He said the federal government had agreed to bear expenses of their salaries for the first two years and the Centre had to issue an installment every six months during this period. He said the first installment had been paid by the federal government eight months ago and the second is yet to be released soon. He said 10,000 police officers are inducted in the special police force.