The government of Pakistan knows the lack of policing capacity in the North West Frontier Province(NWFP) is a serious problem and as asked the UK for assistance in improving the effectiveness of the NWFP police through President Zardai, NWFP Chief Minister Hoti, and NWFP Inspector General of Police Malik Naveed Khan.

The UK is to make a gift of body armour with a value of £497,850. This equates to 870 sets of body armour and will complement training and other capacity building for the Police as part of a larger project to secure Peschawar and the NWFP. The decision to gift is due to the perilous and worsening security situation in Pakistan's NWFP.


Talebanisation is spreading, and the government has already lost control of some areas to militants.

Peshawar, NWFP's provincial capital, is increasingly overrun by militants. Terrorist attacks, kidnappings and attacks on girls' schools have become a weekly occurrence. The Police in NWFP do not have the capacity to counter this growing threat (which, if unchecked could have a direct bearing on UK security interests in Afghanistan and provide a safe haven for the violent extremism which threatens the West more broadly). The NWFP police are under-resourced especially when compared to militants.

The overall project is designed to deliver more effective security operations, improved risk assessment capability, better operational deployment through improved doctrine, practice, ad enhanced intelligence capability vital to Counter Terrorism.