The cabinet of Chief Minister Jam Kamal on Tuesday approved a Rs8 billion plan for the restructuring and strengthening of Levies Force, to be completed in four phases. The provincial cabinet took the decision after reviewing the recommendation made by the Levies DG.

According to the DG, the Levies has been controlling law and order in 90 per cent area of Balochistan provinces, with 23,132 personnel on ground, out of which 13,227 have received modern combat training.

The cabinet agreed to strengthen the Levies, and decided to request the federal government to induct 2,000 new personnel into the force.

To revamp law and order in Balochistan the provincial government is stressing upon to allow police force to deal criminal issues instead of Levis which many alleged being used for guarding government officials as personnel guard instead of serving in Levis Stations.

Police officials always remained embarrassed when confronted with the performance of the Police against the Balochistan Levies and they failed to satisfy curious newsmen about the high rate of crime in the police controlled areas of Balochistan comparing it with the Balochistan Levies.

Balochistan Levies is now controlling around 90 per cent territories while Police is controlling major city areas and bigger population centers where ‘organized crimes’ are rampant comparing it with the less than five percent crime in Balochistan.

The Levies is under the Command of the Deputy Commissioners in all the districts while a Director-General is the commander of the force on the provincial basis.

There is a formal directorate for the force in Quetta with many responsibilities. It is a fact that the force is in fact a community police in the most modern concept of policing. The members of the force are part and parcel of the indigenous society and ought to defend the society from the gangsters, criminals and law breakers.

The Levies force is operating for the past many centuries and it proved successful as people trust them and exchange information and views with them and unlike the police and other alien agencies least known by the people in general.

Since each and every single individual in the Levies force is known to the common people or the entire society, he cannot dare to violate the basic norms of the society. If he commits such blunders defied the basic norms of the society, he will definitely become not only unpopular but a social outcast.

Strong social norms are the strongest check on the personality of the sepoy serving the people. For this simple reason, there is no organized crime in the traditional society where Levies is ruling.

They are no theft, robberies, vice dins in any category kidnapping for ransom as a sprawling business as found in settled society and major cities of Pakistan.

However, there is a need to improve this service to all over the province by providing training facilities to the Levies personal at officer level so that they should also perform the duties of modern policing in major population center. There is a need to establish Levies Thana all over Balochistan manned by highly qualified trained officers to motivate the levies personnel to perform their duties in a better way.