During times of war they can have their command transferred to the Ministry of Defence, and effectively combined to form a reserve force for the Pakistani military.

Some CAF units were originally raised in the colonial era on the frontiers of the empire, and played a key role in the consolidation of control by building a link between the state and communities in strategically sensitive frontier areas through recruitment to government service.

In many areas paramilitary units continue to play exactly the same historical role decades after independence.

[3] The CAF are paid for from the budget of the Ministry of Interior which also provides administrative support.

They function under the operational control of army corps headquarters, not just in war time but whenever Article 245 of the Pakistani Constitution is invoked to provide 'military aid to civil power', for example in Karachi since 2015, [4] and in Punjab since February 2017.