PESHAWAR: Praising the tribal journalists’ role in peace maintenance and development in merged tribal districts,the Inspector General of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police Akhtar Hayat Khan Gandapur has said that state would not ignored the life sacrifices of 14 tribal journalists who lost their lives in the line of duty.
Inspector General of Khyber Pakhtinkhwa police Akhtar Hayat Khan Gandapur said this while speaking to a delegtion of Tribal Union of Journalists(TUJ) met him at his office in Peshawar on Tuesday.
The journalists’ delegation, led by TUJ of erstwhile Fata caretaker chairman Qazi Fazlullah Shinwari, was included of press clubs presidents and members from district Khyber,North and South Waziristan,Mohmand,Bajaur,Kurrum,Orakzai and Frontier Regions.
Akhtar Hayat Gandaour said that they were aware of the sensitivities and challenges being faced by journalists in merged districts. He said journalists were playing a key role in the establishing healthy society.
“I am aware of the threats and risks the journalists counter in merged tribal districts.Police and other sister departments can not ignore the journalists’ importance to maintain peace and portray the soft image of Pakistan”,said IG Akhtar Hayat Khan Gandapur. Adding that not only in the past but still the ex-Fata journalists were performing a challenging job in their respective districts.
Gandapur said their moral and social support would be with the journalists to cop with all kind of social evils. He said they were gradually increasing the numbers of police stations in merged districts so that they could keep watch on the whole area. He said they want all displaced people could return to their respective areas in ex-Fata to bring normalcy and initiate developmental projects for them.
On the question of this correspondent, IG Khyber Pakhtunkhwa said that he knew that a large number of well educated persons were performing jobs in tribal police converted from Khasadar and levies forces. He said they would give priority and relaxation to educated police service men in promotion process to get their high ranks in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police department.
“The policemen hailing from merged districts are full of talent, they are outstanding in courage, bravery and we should appreciate their sacrifices in the line of duty”, IG praised.
Akhtar Hayat Khan Gandapur said when he assumed charge as IG-KP he chalked out service structure mechanism for the police of merged districts executing gradually.
He said Shaheed(martyred)package for police in merged districts was initiated and they have so far handed over compensations to a number of police martyreds families in erstwhile Fata.
Regarding the closing of the several police checkposts in merged districts the chief of police said they were reconsidering to reinstate some of the checkposts due to security reasons especially in district Khyber.
He said Khasadars-converted police in merged districts have completed the initial and advanced trainings in the past two years. He said they were focusing on the traffic management issues especially in district Khyber to control the road accidents and provide the smooth traffic flow on Peshawar-Torkham road.
Akhtar Hayat Khan said they were establishing modern type of police stations in Tirah valley where they could an vigilant eye over social evils.
Tribal Union of Journalists caretaker chairman Qazi Fazlullah Shinwari and spokesperson Ashrafuddin Pirzada discussed various problems being faced by tribal journalists with inspector general of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa police.They told the police chief to provide at least two police to each press clubs in merged districts.
Qazi Fazlullah also demanded of the IG Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to withdraw the cases allegedlly lodged against journalists in merged districts. He said police should allocate free education for the children of martyreds journalists in police-run schools and colleges.
