Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Plans Rs70 Billion Police Boost and Faceless Anti-Terror Courts

Peshawar: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has drawn up a plan to spend about Rs70 billion to tackle the growing threat of terrorism and to address shortfalls in police manpower, financial resources and modern technology. Details emerged in a briefing by the Home Department attended by the Governor, the adviser, the Chief Secretary, secretaries of all departments and senior police officers.

Home Secretary Amjad Ali Khan said Rs59.8 billion of the sum has been earmarked for the police and Rs10.3 billion for the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD).

Under the plan, 17,000 vacant police posts will be filled. The target is to raise the CTD’s capacity from 12 per cent to 37 per cent and the police’s overall capacity to 75 per cent.

Faceless anti-terrorism courts will be set up to try terrorism cases, with the identities of judges, witnesses, police personnel and other relevant persons kept confidential. Legislation for this purpose is being drafted. Parties will retain the right to appeal verdicts before the High Court.

Officials said intelligence-based operations will be intensified and that not only terrorists but also their facilitators will be arrested. The Rapid Response Force will be modernised, police training will be improved and capacity to use drone and anti-drone technology will be expanded.

Several cities, including Dera Ismail Khan, Bannu and Lakki Marwat, are being turned into safe cities, where anti-drone technology will also be provided. Special centres will be established in ten districts, and 400 police facilitation desks will be set up across the province. Dispute Resolution Councils and liaison committees in tribal areas will be activated for local resolution of disputes, and the jirga system will be promoted.

The briefing was told that Rs6.4 billion had been approved for the CTD but only Rs1 billion has been released. In the past, only 3.2 per cent of the provincial budget went to the police. Over the last two years, 1,003 army personnel, 627 police personnel and 808 civilians were killed, while 3,788 terrorists were killed.