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A BRIEF HISTORY OF KHYBER PAKHTUNKHWA POLICE

Muhammad Quraish KhanPSP Assistant Inspector General of Police

The areas that constitute present Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have witnessed Persian, Greek, Bactrian and Kushan influences. Later on, after the advent of Islam, the land of Pashtun came under the rule of the Ghaznavi, the Gohori, the Temuri, the Afghan, the Mughal and the Sikh dynasties. These dynasties maintained various arrangements for watch and ward like Kotwal in cities, Chaukidar in villages, Barkandaz for supervising labour work of convicts and private militia in different Khanates of the that time.

In 1849 the land of the Pashtun was annexed by the British. Initially the British maintained the policing system of the Mughuls and the Sikhs in major part of the Pashtun land, however, to establish durable peace and security Punjab Frontier Force was raised. After War of Independence, a full-fledged policing system was established under Police Act of 1861.Police Act was extended to frontier territory in 1889. In 1901, the frontier territory was constituted as a province called North West Frontier Province (NWFP) and placed under a Chief Commissioner who was agent to Governor General of India. In this new province, two administrative systems were established: The British territory of the province was divided into five settled districts i.e. Hazara, Peshawar, Kohat,Bannu and D.I.Khan and the territories lying in north and west of the settled districts were divided into five Political Agencies i.e. Khyber, Kurrum ,North Wazirsitan, South Wazirstan, and Chitral-Dir-Swat Agency. Each Political Agency was under a Political Agent. The settled districts were under the Inspector General of Punjab. Criminal Courts were established under Code of Criminal Procedure in 1889.There was Cantonment police for the protection of garrisons as well. For Political Agencies, different Levies were raised like Samana Rifles, Border Military Police, Chitral Scouts and Kurrum Militia. In addition to the Levies, the indigenous Maliki and Khasadari systems was also allowed to continue. Samana Rifles and Border Military Police were merged in 1913 and a new force of Frontier Constabulary (FC) was constituted. In 1935, Police Training School was estab. lished in Hangu. From 1901 to 1947 all Inspector Generals were British military or civil officers. After independence in 1947, Khan Gul Muhammad Khan became the first local IG Police in 1948.In 1955 Muhammad Anwar Ali became the IGP when NWFP became part of West Pakistan under One Unit System. M.A.K Chaudhri was posted as IGP NWEP in 1970 after the abolishment of One Unit system. In 2010 NWEP was renamed as Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) during the tenure of IGP Malik Naveed

Khan.

From 1947 to 2001 no major paradigm shift took place in the NWEP police organization except when the police uniform was changed and black color shirt was introduced while the Khaki drill trouser of Pakistan Army was kept intact. This was done during President Ayub Khan time. This pattern of uniform is still in use. The year 2002 is considered as a mile stone in Pakistan police history as the Police Order 2002 ushered in sea changes in the police organization. This Order brought civilian oversight on the police; it introduced Public Safety Commissions, Police Management Board and Police Bureau. It also introduced the concept of professionalization of investigation and functional specialization in the police. Since 2006, KP police undergone through the gory years of its history: the wave of terrorism buffeted the organization and 700 gallant officers and Jawans lost their lives in the war against terrorism.KP police is the front line force and the proud Pashtun fought bravely to save their motherland from the scourge of terrorism and militancy. Today, on word that can explain what KP Police is "resilience". Currently KP police is the force of 70 thousands men and women policing total population of 26 millions. The headquarters of KP police is called Central Police Office (CPO) which is situated at Peshawar. The IGP is assisted by three additional IGs, two Deputy Inspector Generals (DIG) and two Assistant Inspector Generals (AIG). KP is divided into six regions and each region is headed by a Regional Police Officer (RPO).Similarly, a district is headed by a District Police Officer (DPO). Peshawar is governed by Capital City Police Officer with a total strength of eight thou. sands force. The reserve police unit is a force of ten thousands men and is called Frontier Reserve Force (FRP).Elite Force is a specialized unit of six thousands trained for high risk security operations and counter terrorism .KP Bureau of Investigation (KPBI) is a unit of three thousands police officers responsible for criminal investigation management; this unit is headed by an additional IGP and assisted by four DIGs. In 24 districts of KP, the investigation Bureau is headed by Superintendent of Police. Special Branch is an intelligence collection organization. Directorate of Counter Terrorism (DCT) works on terrorism and militancy related research and analysis mat. ters. Forensic Science Laboratory (FSL) Peshawar provides scientific reports on crime and evidence in criminal cases. Police Training College (PTC) Hangu is the premier training institute which provides pre-service and in-service training from constables to Inspectors. Apart from PTC, there are two Recruit Training Wings (RTW) at Manshera and Kohat. The Traffic and Telecommunications units are headed by two Assistant Inspector Generals who are responsible for traffic management, wireless and transportation respectively. KP police has three hundred (300) women police and now more women are encouraged to join the police. The ongoing projects are the Joint Police Training College (JPTC) at Nowshera which will be state-of-the-art training institute in Pakistan. Secure Armory is another project which would be commissioned in 2014. The modernization of telecommunication system is another project aiming for effective and secure police communications. Police Canine (K-9) Unit is in the pipeline. Up gradation of FSL project and Human Resources Development Index (HRDI) is also in the offing.