Khasadar personnel in Wana, left their duties protesting against non-payment of their salaries for the last 10 months, they said.They said, that about 1,400 personnel have refused of performing their duties until their pending salaries are not paid.
Sobedar rank officials including Umar Khan and Salam Wazir said, that they have not received their salaries since the last 10 months. “We are not able to lookafter our families, even cannot fulfill basic needs of our families,” said Khasadar personnel.
“It is the last option to vacate check-posts and refuse of duties till the payment of our salaries,” they said and added,they cannot pay fees for their children’s schooling.
Khasadar said that they have sacrificed for peace and fought terrorism during the militancy in South Waziristan.
When asked about the issue, the Additional Deputy Commissioner Dil Nawaz said, the authorities and his team are trying to solve the problem and bring Khasadar back to their duties. “We know, and trying to pay their salaries within days.”
The ADC tried to explain the reason behind nonpayments of the Khasadar’s salaries, “There was a problem, due to which their salaries were not paid.” He added, “Some Khasadar men have died but their salaries are not paid yet, because of the computerised system for processing payments. We are trying to pay the salaries in cash for this time and manage computerised procedure in future.”
Khasadar is the oldest force operating in the erstwhile FATA, and recently boycotted the polio drives in Wana. After Fata’s merger with Khyber Pakhtunkwha the Khasadar force has been demanding to merged it with KP’s police. However, government faces serious issues in including Khasadar into police, because of lack of required qualification, age limit, professional training and other hurdles.
