Govt decides to extend FC role as countrywide federal force

ISLAMABAD: The government has decided to expand the scope of Frontier Constabulary (FC) as federal force to cover the entire country, sources say, for which necessary legislation would soon be introduced.

According to the sources, the FC is to be renamed as the Federal Constabulary for which the government plans promulgating an ordinance.

The planned move means the proposed force can be deployed anywhere across the country to exercise its powers.

As such, the government would carryout new recruitments from across country so that the required manpower could be hired.

Simultaneously, the planned Federal Constabulary would have offices in every part of Pakistan.

However, the most interesting feature of this massive change is that the police officers – from the Pakistan Police Service – will command the premilitary force.

This is an important development to keep the military away from maintaining law and order duties, especially in the context of increasing threat of terrorism in Pakistan.

Experts have been vocal about the need of a federal force to tackle the emerging challenges and to equip the same with modern technology so that it can play its role effectively without any dependence on others.

Law and order is a provincial subject after the 18th Amendment, but the federal units cannot meet the challenge individually without coordination and federal assistance.

That’s why the sources say the establishment of Federal Constabulary will help greatly in ensuring internal security and maintain law and order in the country.

Meanwhile, the move is neither new or something controversial. Even developed democracies like France, Italy and Australia have federal forces to tackle crimes and terrorism-like issues.