UNITED NATIONS: A Pakistani woman police officer, currently working for a UN peacekeeping operation, has received the 2011 International Female Police Peacekeeper Award in recognition of her outstanding performance.

Shahzadi Gulfam, a deputy superintendent of police, is the first Pakistani woman officer to receive the prestigious award. She is deployed with the United Nations Mission in Timor-Leste (UNMIT) as the UN Police (UNPOL) team leader posted in the Timor-Leste National Police Vulnerable Persons Unit in Dili, the capital.

Ms Gulfam was selected for the award by the United Nations Police Division in the Office of Rule of Law and Security Institutions, Department of Peacekeeping Operations and the International Association of Women Police (IAWP) International Scholarship Committee.She joined the Punjab police in March 1985. During her career, she performed equally well at the national and international level, according to an UNPOL press release. She was the first Pakistani woman to be deployed with the UN Mission in Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1997 and subsequently served in UN missions in Kosovo in 1999 and Timor-Leste in 2007.

“Shahzadi Gulfam has shown enthusiasm, diligence and zeal in her work with the Vulnerable Persons Unit in Dili,” UNMIT Police Commissioner Luis Carillho said. “Sadly in post-conflict Timor-Leste domestic violence is a common crime and victims often find it difficult to file complaints,” she said.