Arms will not be given to civilians in the restive areas of the Malakand Division as the provincial government of NWFP has withdrawn its decision to arm civilians against militants. The earlier decision of providing civilians with old arms at the police departments elicited severe criticism from various quarters, making the provincial government to revise and withdraw it. Instead, arms will be provided to recruits in a ‘special police force’ that will be constituted in troubled areas to complement the security measures of police.

The revised decision of the provincial government sounds more rational on account of more than one reason. First, arming civilians has no legal justification while equipping special police forces is in accord with the Police Order (Article 29, 2002). Secondly, arming untrained civilians carries the risk of misuse of weapons and potential incidence of accidental shootings. Finally, arms distribution would have left the civilians missing the opportunity to get trained in security service while also not paid for their service.

The provincial police departments are authorized to distribute arms – in this case 7.62 bore rifles – among the persons inducted into the special police force. By signing an undertaking, these recruits will get the arms and basic training in security service, and thus be bale to watch their respective place of duty against criminal activity.