PESHAWAR, July 5: The Peshawar High Court on Thursday expressed displeasure over posting of a large number of Frontier Constabulary (FC) personnel outside Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and directed the ministry of interior to provide details of where these personnel had been performing duties, especially in Islamabad and Sindh.

A two-member bench comprising Chief Justice Dost Mohammad Khan and Justice Khalid Mahmood also put on notice attorney general for Pakistan, directing him to explain the status of the FC after enactment of the Constitution (Eighteenth Amendment) Act, 2010.

The bench directed deputy attorney general Mohammad Iqbal Mohmand that if the attorney general was not available then he should argue the case and inform the court whether after the 18th amendment the FC should be under the control of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government or the federal government.

The bench was hearing a writ petition filed by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government through home and tribal affairs department, seeking return of FC platoons to the province from other provinces and Islamabad.

A section officer of the interior ministry, Arif Wazir, informed the bench that presently 47 FC platoons had been posted in Sindh, 35 in Islamabad and 15 in Gilgit-Baltistan. Furthermore, he added that 367 FC platoons were available in the province, 109 performing duty in tribal areas whereas 78 platoons had been serving along with the police. He stated that under section 3 (A) of the Frontier Constabulary Act, 1915, the FC platoons could be deployed anywhere in the country.

The bench sought complete details of where these platoons had presently been performing duties. The bench inquired how FC platoons could be posted in tribal areas along with security forces in a conflict zone.

The chief justice observed that the FC was not the personal force of federal interior minister that he would depute it as he wished. He observed that on the one hand rockets had regularly been fired into settled districts of this province and police were having casualties, on the other the interior ministry had posted personnel of FC outside the province on VIP duties.

The chief justice observed that the British rulers had raised this force for the buffer zone between settled districts and tribal areas. He said that when the entire force was raised from among the tribes of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa how it could be said that the force was meant for the entire country.

The chief justice further observed that the FC had now been turned into a useless force as they had mostly been entrusted duties with VIPs.

The petitioner has claimed that presently 294 FC platoons were operating outside Khyber Pakhtunkhwa though the force was basically meant to protect the areas bordering Fata. It was added that about 180 platoons must be sent back to the province at once.

The petitioner stated that 15 platoons had been sent to Karachi, 10 were deployed in Gilgit-Baltistan and 20 in Islamabad.

Moreover, the Pakistan Army and the federal government are utilising services of 53 and 82 platoons, respectively.