PESHAWAR: Pakistan’s government and army have begun handing over administrative powers to civil authorities in Malakand, a senior official confirmed on Wednesday.
The process was initiated in Lower and Upper Dir, said Sarmad Saleem Akram, Lower Dir deputy commissioner.
He told Arab News that the army had handed over Bandagai checkpoint to a local administration on Wednesday, while Khall and Chakdara checkpoints would follow.
“In the entire Lower Dir, only three checkpoints will now be jointly manned by the police and Frontier Corps (FC) personnel. The rest, all of them, have been handed over to the local police authorities,” he said.
Discussing the challenges resulting from transfer of security responsibility to civilian administration, Akram said: “There may be a problem in terms of shortage of security personnel, however Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) police are trained to handle the situation.”
Akram said the army would probably withdraw from Malakand’s border checkpoints as well, handing over the area’s security to FC personnel.
Hafizur Rehman, who lives in Lower Dir, welcomed the change and said police would man the checkpoints more efficiently since they lived in the area and knew local residents.
“Although the military ensures tight security of the area, police checks will be less time consuming since they know the locals,” he said.
“The police are ready to take up the challenges since it is a public service,” Shahab Ali Shah, district police officer in Upper Dir, said.
“If we need the military’s support, we will call them and they will be here to assist us.”
Kamran Khan, a schoolteacher from Upper Dir, said that the army had played a key role in restoring peace in the area.
“They ended public display of weapons and resolved several disputes in Dir,” he said. “The army can perhaps better control the security of the area.”
Peshawar-based analyst Rahimullah Yusufzai told Arab News that the transfer of security responsibilities from the army to the civil administration had been a lengthy process.
“There could be challenges in the future and this is why the army will be available to provide backup support to the police manning security checkpoints,” he said.
He said that if the transfer of powers proved successful in the Upper and Lower Dir districts, it would be carried out in other areas of Malakand division as well.
“The army wants to reduce public dealing by soldiers on roadside checkpoints since this can sometimes create resentment among people,” he said.
Dr. Abaseen Yousafzai, a Peshawar University professor from Lower Dir, praised the army for establishing peace in the region and said he favored handing over control to civil administrators.
“This was an extra burden on the army. The country’s military has done the right thing by transferring this responsibility to the police since it will help its soldiers concentrate on other important issues,” he said.
Yousafzai said that he now visited his village in Lower Dir at night without fear of militants or anti-state elements in the area.
The army stayed in Malakand for almost 10 years. It launched a military operation, Rah-e-Nijat, against militant groups in the region in 2009 after two peace accords failed.
The offensive was launched after the Taliban refused to lay down its arms despite a ruling that established sharia law in Malakand, one of the militant group’s chief demands.
