Two female KP cops reach Sudan on UN peace mission

PESHAWAR: The female officers performing duty in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police force are role models for young girls to follow into their footsteps and work for the betterment of the society.

In recent years there has been a surge in the number of female officers working as assistant commissioners in the field to prove their mettle. An increasing number of women have started joining the police force as assistant superintendent of police (ASP) and assistant sub-inspector (ASI) in recent years.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa got its first female district police officer a couple of weeks back when Sonia Shamroz was posted as the District Police Officer of Lower Chitral. Her appointment was lauded internationally since it was a big milestone for a generally conservative province like KP.

Sonia Shamroz had previously served as SP in Abbottabad and other parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the country. She also served as the first female principal of the Police Training Centre in Mansehra.

The other day, Gul Nisa Kundi, an Elite commando of KP Police belonging to the remote and conservative Tank district, began duties in a UN peacekeeping mission in Sudan.

"I feel proud to be part of the UN mission in Sudan while representing KP Police and my hometown," Gul Nisa Kundi said. According to the officials of the KP Police, Gul Nisa Kundi and ASI Saima Sharif will be part of the UN peace mission in Sudan.

"Women officers are doing an excellent job in the field and in offices across KP. The environment here is friendly and the bosses, colleagues and the public are also friendly due to the values and culture of the province," Deputy Superintendent of Police Shazia Shahid told The News. She is the head of the Education and Awareness wing of the Traffic Police.

"I deal with hundreds of commuters daily and never found it difficult. In some situations, the public may not cooperate with male officers but they don't argue with the female cops and the situation is handled in a much better way when I approach them," noted Shazia Shahid, who served in other provinces while working in the National Highways and Motorway Police.

She said women are equally doing good job in operations, raids and other duties. She recalled having topped the shooting competition among the 2,700 cops at the Sihala College in Rawalpindi. She also remained the deputy commandant of the NHMP Police Academy.

"It is not easy to manage both duty and home some time, but duty always remains our priority. Apart from my work in the field of education and awareness, we remain on the road to ensure smooth flow of traffic till late night," said Shazia Shahid.

"We have two women in senior ranks, Shazia Shahid and Aneela Naz and they as well as other female cops are doing their best," SSP Traffic Abbas Majeed Marwat told The News. "They are very active officers. Shazia is mostly on roads regulating traffic while she also goes with her team for awareness sessions to different schools, colleges and universities," he added.

Among the women, Inspector Rizwana was the first SHO of an all-male police station when she was posted in Gulberg a few years back.

A female constable Rafia Qaseem Baig had opted to be trained as the bomb disposal expert as she wanted do the job to save the lives of other people. Three sisters from Karak, Rukhsana Gul, Pari Gul and Samina Gul, all went through the bomb disposal training a few months back.

The three sisters had also opted for the tough commando training of the Elite Police Force that they successfully completed in Nowshera a couple of years back. Theirs is a rare example of three sister commandos in any Asian country.

The women police stations and the female desks in various police stations, however, needed to be improved and made active and effective to help hundreds of female complainants who need police help.