KHYBER: The Khyber district police officer has requested the repatriation of the 48 personnel, who were recommended to join the Frontier Reserve Police (FRP) in Peshawar, but are not willing to do so.

The development has caused unrest among 300 other such personnel, who are also set to join FRP.

An official letter dated Oct 15, addressed to the capital city police officer, Peshawar, said at least 48 personnel of Khyber police had expressed their unwillingness to serve in FRP, and thus shall be repatriated to their district.

The letter further pleaded that a similar number of cops from Khyber might be considered as substitute for repatriated personnel.

Sources in the Khyber police confided to Dawn that the request for repatriation of 48 `blue-eyed` policemen didn`t go down well with the 300 others, who were selected to serve in FRP against the Khyber`s official quotainthereserveforce.

The sources said names of only those personnel were recommended for repatriation, who were recruited in the Khyber police after clearing the Etea test, while they were also considered to be close to some influential officialsin the policeforce.

The sources said the rest of personnel were recommended for FRP without imparting them the requisite knowledge and training to serve in the force.

The sources said a majority of the policemen selected for FRP were former Khasadars, who had no or little knowledge of the FRP`s professional responsibilities, and they were also unwilling to be posted out of their parent district.

District police officer Rao Mazhar Iqbal, however, insisted his office recommended the names of 350 police personnel for induction in FRP as it was feared that the district would lose its legitimate share in FRP.

`We have only sent the service documents of those who are recommended for FRP, while they will stay put in Khyber,` he said and added these policemen would not get promoted if they refused to join FRP.

He clarified that it was not a permanent arrangement and the recommended policemen would be repatriated to regular police in a year or two.

`We have done this only to secure our seats quota in FRP and if we had refused, these seats would have gone to some other district,` he stated.