PESHAWAR: Ranker officers occupy all the slots of district police officers (DPOs) in the merged districts, where the law and order situation has worsened over the last few years.
There used to be officers from elite cadres posted in some of the important merged districts. However, for the last several months, only police officers recruited as assistant sub-inspectors (ASIs) or sub-inspectors (SIs) have been posted in these areas.
Hardly a couple of these rankers would otherwise qualify for DPO positions in peaceful major districts or divisional headquarters despite having two or three decades of service.Currently, Khalid Khan is posted as DPO Bajaur, where the law and order situation has deteriorated in recent years. He sustained serious injuries in an attack in Hangu, where he was serving as DPO last year.
Raza Muhammad is Mohmand DPO, Waqar Ahmad is Khyber DPO, Malik Habib is Kurram DPO, and Shaukat Khan is Orakzai DPO.Besides, Sajjad Hussain is DPO North Waziristan, Arshad Khan is Upper South Waziristan DPO, and Tahir Shah is Lower South Waziristan DPO.
All these officers were recruited by the province as SIs or ASIs. Many of them have recently been encadred into the Police Service of Pakistan (PSP), though they originally came from the ranks.
Most merged districts, as well as districts in southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, have faced serious law and order challenges in recent years. Police and security forces are particularly being targeted in these areas.
Senior officers now avoid postings there because of the serious challenges and threats involved. Officers from elite cadres also avoid postings in southern districts, especially Bannu division, where more attacks have occurred than in any other division in recent years.
Interestingly, mostly officers recruited by the province have also been posted to lead Bannu division police over the last couple of years. The last three consecutive regional police officers posted in Bannu were all from the same batch of PCS officers later encadred into PSP.
Currently, Rabnawaz Khan is the Regional Police Officer (RPO) of Bannu and took charge before Eid. He replaced his batch-mate Sajjad Khan, who had been leading Bannu Range Police since April 2025.
Sajjad had replaced Imran Shahid, another batch-mate, who was posted there in June 2024. Another batch-mate, Iqbal Marwat, was martyred while serving as DPO Bannu many years ago.
The question arises whether this batch of officers is more competent and braver than others and is being successively posted in Bannu to improve law and order, or whether officers from other batches and cadres are unwilling to serve in the troubled region.Bannu has faced more terrorist attacks over the last two years than other regions. Police, security forces, and civilians are coming under daily attack.
Rankers have been posted in most troubled districts of Bannu and Dera Ismail Khan divisions, as well as the merged districts, in recent years.On the other hand, they have a smaller presence in DPO offices in divisional headquarters and, more importantly, relatively peaceful districts.
Similarly, almost all regional SPs of the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) are from the ranks. Many of them are even DSPs but are directed to work as SPs because senior officers avoid postings in CTD, a force tasked with pursuing terrorists.
