In 1920, when the Swat Levies were reorganized, Sadullah Khan, known as Khan Sahib was promoted as Subedar Major and he thus became the first Subedar Major of Swat Levies. In 1950 regular police was introduced in Swat by conversion of the Levies personnel into it. In Chitral, the border police force was reorganized and separated from Swat Levies while in Dir district and Malakand Agency Levies personnel were given separate designations as Dir Levies and Malakand Levies. Those personnel of Swat Levies who were serving in Malakand Agency, formed the nucleus for the Malakand Levies. In Dir district, the police force was introduced in addition to the Levies but in Malakand, no additional police force was recruited. Thus "Malakand Levies" continued to perform the dual tasks of the Levies as well as the police in the Agency. The Malakand Levies since inception till 1977, worked on ad hoc and temporary bases and therefore were not entitled to pension, except gratuity of a negligible amount.
The Levies have an important relationship to the elite Special Services Group commandos of the Pakistan Army, since for the first 2 years when the SSG training base at Cherat was formed, it was 2 Naib Subedars, 6 Havildars and 18 Naiks of the Malakand Levies who were initially deputed to serve as drill staff for the new SSG recruits from the Baloch Regiment there. Until the 1990s it was also Levies troops and NCOs who trained SSG personnel in long-range reconnaissance patrolling in mountain conditions.
The Malakand Levies comes under the administrative control of SAFRON Division, Government of Pakistan. The Commandant of Malakand Levies is the commanding officer of 1325 strong force while the Subedar Major is the second high-ranking officer after the commandant. 10 Subedars, 23 Naib Subedars, 37 Havaldars, 39 Naiks, 60 Lance Naiks, 1040 sepoys and constables constitute the force. When the strength of Levies was sanctioned in the first instance, the pay of a sepoy was Rs. 9 per month. It was increased to Rs. 121 per month later. After World War II, Rs. 11 per month were also sanctioned as clothing allowance.