LAHORE: A female police officer from Balochistan has broken the glass ceiling to head the security of a district in Pakistan’s largest province, where women account for only 2.25 per cent of total police strength.

The Punjab government has posted SP Shazia Sarwer as District Police Officer (DPO) of Layyah against an existing vacancy, giving a positive message to those joining the federal services from the less privileged province.

SP Sarwer was the fifth policewoman to serve as DPO in Punjab and the first officer with Balochistan domicile, a police official said.

Earlier, he said, SP Shaista Rehman (from 36th common) has served as DPO Bhakkhar, SP Amara Ather (36th common) as DPO Bahawalnagar and DPO Sargodha, SP Maria Mahmood as DPO Pakpatan and SP Nida Umar (36th common) as DPO Layyah during the last four years or so.

In a similar development, Faisalabad City Police Officer (CPO) Omer Saeed Malik posted Farah Batool as Station House Officer (SHO) the first policeman to serve at the position in the history of the district.

Policy shift encourages gender mainstreaming in law enforcement agencies of Punjab

The step was taken keeping in view the growing number of women visiting police stations in the one of the most populated cities where women representation was negligible, Mr Omer confirmed to Dawn.

He said there was a proposal to increase number of female SHOs in the city in near future.

‘A major shift’

The official source said the Punjab police witnessed a major change in policy when incumbent IGP Faisal Shahkar held a series of meetings to increase representation of female officers to end male-dominance in all ranks.

Initially, he had found some resistance from within the male-dominated department when a few senior police officers clearly opposed the policy. They were of the opinion that he should abandon the practice of supporting women in field postings, because they believed women facing multiple challenges were unable to command police force.

He said they also “advised” the Punjab police chief that if he wanted to increase the strength of the female officers, then they could be given administrative positions or other non-field assignments.

IGP Shahkar, however, rejected such suggestions and issued directions to the field police officers to increase the percentage of police officials in their respective districts and regions.

The official said the police chief also improved the role of ‘women police councils’, established in all law enforcement agencies, besides adding two senior female officers to the Punjab police executive board encouraging policy decision to enhance gender mainstrea­ming in law enforcement agencies.

Recently, the IGP had recommended names of three policewomen, Shazia Sarwer, Amara Athar and Shaista Nadeem, to Punjab Chief Minister Chaudhry Parvez Elahi for three positions of DPOs.

The officers were subsequently called for interview at CM Secretariat, where IGP Shahkar was also present. Of them, the chief minister accorded approval to post SP Sarwer as DPO of Layyah, the official said, adding that there were reports that appointment of more policewomen to head district police was in process.

2.25pc of total strength

Of the total strength of nearly 200,000 personnel, there are only 4,500 female officers serving in the Punjab police department and of them few could reach the high rank of DIG or above, the official said.

He lamented that policewomen often find it too hard for themselves to adjust in the male-dominated department. No one could get posting as a Regional Police Officer due to the prevailing culture that has been supporting the male dominance, he said.

Some female officers faced a tough time even from their high-ranking male colleagues who tried to mislead the provincial police chiefs by tarnishing their image, the source said.

Lobbying

A BS-18 police officer, Dr Anoosh Masood Chaudhry, had been kept away from the field posting due to the ‘lobbying’ against her by a few male officers, the official confided.

Referring to the matter of her appointment that surfaced recently, he said, her name was recommended for posting as SSP in Lahore during the tenure of former IGP Rao Sardar Ali Khan. But some senior officers opposed her appointment and influenced the then IG police, the official said, adding that the matter led to a heated debate in the Central Police Office with the result that her appointment was delayed ‘deliberately’ for a certain period.

Her appointment notification as SSP (Operations) Lahore was later issued at the time when the Election Commission Office had already imposed a ban on all kinds of transfers/postings in the wake of the by-elections in various parts of Punjab.

Consequently, her appointment order was cancelled. She is currently serving on a non-field assignment.

Investigations

Also in Lahore, the official said, six policewomen who were serving for the ‘first time’ as officer in charge of investigations were facing some serious issues due to negative propaganda launched by their male colleagues against them.

They were trying to mislead the higher authorities, giving a reason that the ‘male investigation officers’ were far better at performing the risky job of identifying and rounding up criminals as compared to the female colleagues, he said.

Published in Dawn, September 19th, 2022