KP Plans Faceless Terror Courts, Rs70bn Police Boost

Key takeaways: Khyber Pakhtunkhwa will set up faceless anti-terrorism courts to protect judges, prosecutors and witnesses, and spend Rs70 billion a year on police and the Counter-Terrorism Department. The plan follows weeks of emergency rule in the province.

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Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s administration has unveiled a new counterterrorism plan that includes faceless anti-terrorism courts and Rs70 billion a year in funding for the police and the Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD). The measures were announced at a briefing in Peshawar on Sunday, November 8, weeks after the federal government imposed emergency and governor’s rule in the province.

Under the plan, the identities of judges, prosecutors, witnesses and police officers in terrorism trials would stay confidential. Home Secretary Amjad Ali Khan, who outlined the measures, said an amendment to set up the courts had already been sent for approval, because witnesses were reluctant to come forward over security concerns.

Where the money goes

The police will receive Rs59.8 billion (Rs33.4 billion for infrastructure, Rs26.4 billion for equipment) and the CTD Rs10.3 billion (Rs5.4 billion infrastructure, Rs4.9 billion equipment and operations).

The funding is tied to specific targets: police surveillance coverage from 15 to 60 percent, counter-aerial capacity from 1 to 50 percent, night operations from 18 to 50 percent, CTD counter-drone capability to 60 percent and vehicle armouring from 16 to 70 percent. The CTD’s jurisdiction will also extend to all 34 districts.

The plan also includes anti-drone systems in Dera Ismail Khan, Lakki Marwat and Bannu, a Safe City extension, and the filling of 17,000 vacant police posts, according to Daily Pakistan. Intelligence-based operations are to be scaled up, along with arrests of militant facilitators and re-verification of people on the Fourth Schedule watch list.

The context: emergency rule and a heavy toll

The plan comes weeks after the federal government suspended the provincial government on October 11, imposing emergency and governor’s rule and accusing the PTI-led administration of “deliberate disengagement” from counterterrorism.

At the briefing, Khan set out the scale of the losses: 1,003 armed forces personnel, 627 police personnel and 808 civilians killed over the past two or three years, while 3,788 militants were killed in the same period. He said only 3.2 percent of the budget had been allocated for security in the merged districts.

Governor Faisal Karim Kundi, who attended the briefing, said restoring peace and properly equipping the police were the administration’s priorities. He also made its position on talks clear: “Anyone who takes up arms against the state cannot be offered dialogue, will be responded to accordingly.”

Sharif brothers discuss the plan

On Monday, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif briefed his brother, PML-N President Nawaz Sharif, on the plan at Jati Umra in Lahore. The prime minister said the government had been “compelled” to impose emergency rule, while Nawaz Sharif argued the intervention should have come much earlier.

Why it matters

The faceless courts target a recognised bottleneck: witnesses who will not testify because they fear retaliation. If the amendment survives legal scrutiny and the courts are staffed, it could unblock cases that stall for lack of testimony. The funding addresses a second problem: a police force and CTD that officials themselves describe as under-equipped.

But the plan is, for now, an announcement: the amendment needs approval and the funding needs to flow. The test will be whether the courts open, the equipment arrives and the casualty figures fall.

What happens next

The amendment awaits approval and the funding is to roll out over the current financial year. The political question is whether the emergency set-up can deliver results quickly enough to justify its powers, and whether the PTI, which ran the province until October, accepts the new arrangement or challenges it.

Frequently asked questions

What are faceless anti-terrorism courts?

They are proposed courts in which the identities of judges, prosecutors, witnesses and police officers in terrorism trials would remain confidential, to protect them from threats and retaliation by militant groups.

How much funding is planned, and for whom?

Rs70 billion a year in total: Rs59.8 billion for the police and Rs10.3 billion for the Counter-Terrorism Department, covering infrastructure and equipment.

Why was the plan announced now?

The federal government imposed emergency and governor’s rule in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on October 11, citing the previous provincial government’s disengagement from counterterrorism, and the new administration is setting out its security strategy.

Sources