Khasadar and Levies forces merged into KP police: CM Mahmood Khan
CM Khan further said that they [28,000 personnel] would be given regular police training.
PESHAWAR (Dunya News) – Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Chief Minister (CM) Mahmood Khan, in a bid to further bring tribal areas into the mainstream, on Monday announced merging of Khasadar and Levies forces – a British era policing system in the erstwhile Fata – into police.
Reportedly, he addressed a press conference at the CM House and paid homage to martyrs who had lost their lives in the war against terrorism.
He asserted that millions of families [after the merging] would not be forced to suffer starvation as Khasadar and Levies would be granted privileges and benefits similar to police.
He called it “a historic day” in bringing the tribal areas into the mainstream, and claimed that all promises made by the premier would be fulfilled.
He disclosed that all demands made by Levies and the Khasadar in a 22-point agenda have been accepted.
CM Khan further said that they [28,000 personnel] would be given regular police training.
The provincial government had promulgated the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Levies Force (Transition) Ordinance, 2019, in merged districts in March for giving policing powers to the force.
It was perceived that after the merger of tribal areas with Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and abolition of the Frontier Crimes Regulation, there was no justification for the continuation of Khasadari system.
The British government had introduced Khasadari system in former Waziristan Agency and gradually extended to other tribal agencies, where they (the British) did not have direct control. Khasadari was distributed among the clans and sub-tribes.
The colonial government conceived the system both as a solution to crimes in a region they had little ingress or influence in, and as a means to placate tribal elders into taking on a de facto policing role instead of making trouble.
The government had also introduced Levies Force, a sort of regular policing system, in the erstwhile Fata to assist the political administrations in respective tribal agencies to deal with petty crimes. The Levies Force was regularised in the last government of Pakistan Peoples Party.
