KARACHI: For the first time ever in the history of Sindh police, more than 40 women have been recruited in the Counter-Terrorism Department and Rapid Response Force of the law enforcement agency to take up the challenge of combat operations and intelligence gathering, said officials and documents reviewed by Dawn on Saturday.

Not only women from major cities but also from rural backgrounds have been selected after various tests, interviews and medical examination, the officials said, adding that they would receive training from Pakistan Army.

After six months’ training, the women recruited as police constables would be part of the regular police force, the officials said.

The names of 46 women were finalised along with 1,461 male candidates after due process, according to a document recently prepared by the police titled ‘Final results of recruitment as police constable in Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) & Rapid Response Force’.

Women from both rural and urban backgrounds to receive training from army

“After advertisement in newspapers in October 2016, a total of 50,562 candidates applied for the post of constables and finally 30,821 appeared in physical test,” said an official citing details of the recruitment process. “After different tests, interviews and medical examination finally 1,507 were selected who would be joining the force soon. The new recruits would become part of regular force hopefully after six-month training,” he said.

The official said a positive sign in the recruitment was the selection of women from rural and urban areas, as the candidates hailed from Mirpurkhas, Khairpur, Qambar-Shahdadkot, Shaheed Benazirabad, Jamshoro, Naushahro Feroze, Badin, Tando Allahyar, and Ghotki besides major cities such as Sukkur, Hyderabad and Karachi.

It is worth recalling here that the percentage of women in police remains below two per cent though the country’s legislatures adopted several laws in recent years for protection of women’s rights. According to the National Police Bureau, out of 391,364 police personnel across the country, only 5,731 are women.

The NPB data shows that at 3.4pc, Gilgit-Baltistan boasts the highest percentage of policewomen when compared to other regions and provinces. In one of the provinces, the percentage of women in the police force is as low as 0.48pc.

The officials at the helm of affairs admitted that apart from cultural norms and traditions, a lack of encouragement `from within the government institutions’ contributed to the low ratio of women in the force. They believed it should at least be 10pc and that the fresh recruitment by the Sindh police was a move in the direction to make their institution a preferred choice of educated women as well.

“A few of these 46 recruits will be deputed at the Rapid Response Force, while most of them will serve at the CTD,” said Additional IG CTD Dr Sanaullah Abbasi.

“It’s the first such kind of batch of the Sindh CTD as we have recruited women for our specialised unit. And I tell you that they all will be doing the same job being assigned to male team members. They will receive physical training, intelligence operation and combat training from the army.”

He said that the CTD needed services of women personnel in the neighbourhoods where cultural bindings and certain lifestyles prevented its male members to operate freely, thus affecting the overall scope of its operation.

Published in Dawn, June 4th, 2017