Chitral needs strong police to check incursions

By Zar Alam Khan

ISLAMABAD: Fearing more criminal and anti-state activities from across the border in Afghanistan, people of Chitral have asked the federal government to strengthen the local police and border security force on a priority basis.
Though Chitral has remained unaffected from Taliban militancy so far, its over 300-km-long poorly watched porous border with the three provinces of Afghanistan - Wakhan, Nooristan and Kunar – has seen unchecked movement of Afghan nationals including smugglers and criminals into the valley. And the recent kidnapping of a Greek national from Kalash valley has further exposed the vulnerability of the district to such an eventuality.
Security experts believe that any long-term strategy to contain Taliban resurrection and keep the Malakand division from any future militant activity is fraught with failure until Chitral-Afghan border was protected through enhanced security measures.
The Chitral police with its current strength of about 1,050 personnel are poorly equipped and unable to meet growing security concerns besides discharging their routine duty in the district spreading over 14,850 square kilometres. Besides, most of the Chitral Scouts personnel which used to man the border till the withdrawal of Russian forces from Afghanistan in 1989 now remain posted out in Gilgit-Baltistan and the violence-hit districts of the NWFP.
As the dust settles on the military operation against Taliban militants, the federal government is all set to raise a strong police force of 11,000 personnel for the Malakand division which will replace the army to maintain peace in the region. Though Chitral is a
district of the Malakand division and has suffered huge economic losses due to the recent law and order situation and is at the risk of increased militancy through its borders with Afghanistan as well as Swat and Dir districts, the government has strangely kept it
out of the future security arrangement.
When contacted, MNA from Chitral Shahzada Mohiuddin, however, said Interior Minister Rehman Malik had assured him that the district would get its share in the recruitment of 11,000 police personnel for the Malakand division. He said the minister was well aware of the security problems of the district and determined to strengthen the police and the border security fo