Even the higher allocations announced for the two forces in the national budget for the new fiscal year, beginning on July 1, are unlikely to increase their capacity sufficiently to check the danger the militants pose to civilian population.
Budget documents promise 22 per cent more ‘operating expenditure’ to the Frontier Constabulary – Rs183 million compared to Rs150 million allocated in 2008-09 budget.
The Frontier Corps has been meted a more generous treatment. The operating expenditure of the Frontier Corps in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa has gone up 53.8 per cent to Rs769 million from Rs500 million but a miserly 12 per cent increase for the corps units in Balochistan — Rs952 million for 2011-12 against Rs850 million in 2008-09.
On paper the increases look substantial but much of the gloss vanishes when inflation is factored in. The fuel prices alone witnessed a big hike. Petrol price rose by 25.9 per cent while diesel went up by a whooping 88.22 percent. More >>>
Location:Islamabad
