Daily Times

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has decided regularize more than 9,000 policemen who had been recruited on contracts several years ago in different districts of the province.

An official told Daily Times that these contract policemen, called the special police officers, were employed to assist the regular police in fighting terrorism in the days when terrorism and bomb attacks were at peak in the province.

Mostly, their recruitment started in Swat and other districts of Malakand division, which were worst hit by terrorism.

Many SPOs sacrificed their lives in suicide attacks, bomb blasts, ambushes, target killings and other terrorist incidents.

A senior official said that the KP cabinet will meeting soon to approve the regularisation of 9,620 SPOs. The lists of the policemen have been sent to the Home Department for approval, and later the cabinet will approve it.

According to statistics of the police department, currently there are 1,558 special police officersin Peshawar, 40 in Mardan, 299 in Nowshera, 393 in Charsadda, 162 in Swabi, 161 in Haripur, 98 in Abbottabad, 100 in Mansehra, 81 in Upper Kohistan and 275 in Torghar,

2,182 in Swat, 980 in LowerDir, 592 in Upper Dir, 298 in Chitral, 763 in Buner, 737 in Shangla, 99 in Kohat, 74 in Hangu, 456 in Bannu, 99 in Lakki Marwat, 97 in Dera Ismail Khan, 16 in the Special Branch and 70 in the Counter-Terrorism Department.

Superintendent of Police (SP) Shahzada Kaukab Farooq, who is also director KP Police Public Relations, told Daily Times that the newly appointed IGP Sanaullah Abbasi took the decision in order to fulfill t a longstanding demand of the SPOs.

“This decision is meant to reward the special police force for their sacrifices and services against terrorism in KP,” he added.