ISLAMABAD: Pakistan mentioned on Monday it was making a nationwide paramilitary drive, prompting concern amongst opposition events and human rights teams that it may very well be used as a instrument of political repression. The transfer turns an present paramilitary drive deployed on Pakistan’s northwestern border with Afghanistan right into a nationwide safety drive that will probably be known as the Federal Constabulary, state minister for the inside Talal Chaudhry instructed a press convention within the japanese metropolis of Faisalabad. Its new duties will embrace inside safety, riot management and counter-terrorism, in line with a duplicate of the amended regulation reported by the native Dunya Information TV. The announcement got here after Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) get together of former jailed PM Imran Khan mentioned it will stage nationwide protests beginning on Aug 5, the second anniversary of his arrest. A number of such protests since his Aug 2023 arrest have turned violent, in some instances paralysing the capital Islamabad for days. “This will probably be a brand new drive. This will probably be a stronger drive. We’d like this drive for inside safety,” Chaudhry mentioned, including that President Asif Ali Zardari had already permitted amendments within the regulation introducing modifications within the paramilitary drive. The brand new drive replaces the Frontier Constabulary (FC), whose cadres had been beforehand recruited solely from tribes within the northwestern province, Chaudhry mentioned. Coaching of the brand new drive will carry it into line with different nationwide regulation enforcement businesses, he added. Khan’s get together spokesperson Zulfikar Bukhari mentioned the modifications must be topic to parliamentary dialogue. The brand new drive “shouldn’t be used as a gimmick to silence political opponents, as has been beforehand witnessed when the federal government utilized such legal guidelines towards numerous the PTI management and supporters,” he mentioned. His concern was echoed by Haris Khalique, secretary of the Human Rights Fee of Pakistan, an impartial physique. “We’re alarmed by the modifications being made to the safety and regulation enforcement construction of the nation with none debate in parliament,” Khalique mentioned. REUTERS
