Kharan Rifles
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{{Infobox military unit
| unit_name = Kharan Rifles
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| country = {{flag|Pakistan}}
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| branch = Civil Armed Forces
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| role = Paramilitary police
| size = 5 battalion-sized Wings
| command_structure = Frontier Corps
| garrison = Nok Kundi
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| commander1 = Colonel Qamar Zaheer{{cite news |url=https://tribune.com.pk/story/2363054/kharan-sports-culture-festival-kicks-off |title=Kharan sports, culture festival kicks off |date=24 June 2022 |publisher=The Express Tribune}}
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| commander2 = Colonel Pir Sadiq Shah{{cite news |url=https://www.dawn.com/news/47436/ammunition-seized |title=Ammunition seized |date=12 July 2002 |publisher=Dawn}}
Colonel Sadiq Ali Shah{{cite news |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-2002-06-09-0206090439-story.html |title=2 tons of heroin seized after gun battle |date=9 June 2002 |publisher=Chicago Tribune}}
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The Kharan Rifles is a paramilitary regiment forming part of the Pakistani Frontier Corps Balochistan (South). It is responsible for border security, counter-insurgency, and maintaining law and order in southwest Pakistan. It guards the border area at the junction of Pakistan, Iran and Afghanistan, a major transit area for trade and traffic. Administratively the regiment comes under the Interior Ministry, while it is commanded by seconded officers of the Pakistan Army.
History
In 1978, the Balochistan Constabulary, a paramilitary unit based in the Khuzdar and Kharan Districts in Balochistan Province, was deactivated, raised anew as a unit of the Frontier Corps and joined by the 84th Wing of the Chagai Militia. The new name of the unit was the Kharan Rifles and their base was moved from the large city of Khuzdar to the remote settlement of Nok Kundi. The Rifles were subdivided into three battalions: the 75th Wing, the 76th Wing, and the 84th Wing. By 1985 the Rifles had a strength of 2,200 personnel,{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-vExAQAAIAAJ |title=Pacific Defence Reporter |volume=12 |page=19 |date=1985 |publisher=Peter Isaacson Publications}} but it remained a lightly-armed unit.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wUi6AAAAIAAJ |title=Near East/South Asia Report |page=119 |issue=86028 |date=1986 |publisher=Foreign Broadcast Information Service, United States}}
In 1988, personnel of the Rifles discovered and neutralised several explosive devices on the main highway linking the Iranian city of Zahedan and Pakistani city of Quetta.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TuNtAAAAMAAJ |title=Pakistan Horizon |page=136 |volume=41 |date=1988 |publisher=Pakistan Institute of International Affairs}} In September 1999, one person died and three were injured in a confrontation with armed personnel based in Taftan, Balochistan.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GMlYAAAAYAAJ |title= Pakistan Labour Cases |volume=46 |issue=1–6 |date=2005 |publisher=Malik Muhammad Saeed}}
In the early 21st century, the Rifles apprehended significant amounts of smuggled weapons and ammunition near the Pakistan-Afghanistan border in Chagai District including on 11 July 2002, and 16 March 2006.{{cite news |url=https://www.dawn.com/news/183470/arms-seized |title=Arms seized |date=17 March 2006 |publisher=Dawn}}
The Rifles have also been in anti-drugs operations. In June 2002, the unit intercepted smugglers and seized two tonnes of heroin, with an estimated street value of $13 million. In 2011-2012, the unit received a number of drug testing kits to assist in their work against drug smuggling.{{cite web |url=https://www.unodc.org/documents/pakistan/Precursors_report_25_feb_2011.pdf |title=Equipping Pakistan's Law Enforcement For Interdiction |date=25 February 2011 |publisher=United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime}}
Units
- Headquarters Wing
- 60 Wing{{cite web |url=http://www.pcp.gov.pk/SiteImage/Downloads/Issue-6%20Dated%2005-02-2020.pdf |title=The Gazette of Pakistan. Part III. Office of the Inspector General Frontier Corps Khyber Pakhtunkhwa |page=113 |publisher=Government of Pakistan |date=20 September 2019 |access-date=11 December 2022}}
- 75 Wing
- 76 Wing
- 84 Wing
- 145 Wing{{cite web |url=http://pcp.gov.pk/SiteImage/Downloads/Issue-12%20Dated%2024-03-2021.pdf |title=The Gazette of Pakistan. Part II. |page=180 |publisher=Government of Pakistan |date=30 December 2020 |access-date=12 December 2022}}