PESHAWAR: The first of its kind women police reporting centre has been set up in Parachinar, upper Kurram, a recently merged tribal district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The initiative aims to expand women’s access to justice in a region where they had been traditionally deprived of it.
A small building has been separated from the main police station in Parachinar which is managed by lady police officer Safiya Masih. She hails from the local Christian community and is in-charge of the first women police reporting centre in the tribal district of KP. She is aiming to provide relief and justice to the women in Kurram district.
The lady officer shed light over the initiative and said, “The establishment of the women police desk in the area was very necessary because women have always been there in security forces in order to facilitate matters in which a woman is needed.”
She elaborated about the police culture and stated, “The tribal belt in Pakistan is dominated by men. Women, not only residing in tribal areas but even in KP, are reluctant to share their problems with male police personnel present in the police station,” Masih added.
The lady officer shared that the women in tribal districts are the victims of many problems and unfortunately, they are deprived of justice because they don’t have access to justice and police.
The only matriculate female police officer in the women police desk expressed concerns about the proceedings of the women desk and shared, “Women in the area are unaware about the process of policing in cases like family disputes, inheritance issues, harassment and the verification of documents as well as other police-related issues.”
The women police officers dressed in black uniform said that there is a male scribe who has been assigned to their office to register an FIR only while the women police personnel are in charge of listening to the grievances of the women complainants, which further proceed to the higher authorities concerned for action.
The lady police official responding to a question over facilities available in the women police desk also said, “day care has been established to provide the convenience to the women with children and also women working as police officials in Parachinar.
“Now, we are eight female police staff from different parts of Kurram district, in which four female police are Muslims while the other four belong to the Christian community of Parachinar area. The women face a range of discriminatory and harmful practices that can threaten their security across Pakistan. The KP police … ensures responses to crimes against women. The women in Pakistan must contend with a variety of strict … customs that limit their rights,” she added.
Arbab Shafiullah, who recently took charge as district police officer (DPO) of Kurram district, said that it is an achievement of the police department that male police officials, females and citizens in general are accepting the role, presence and performance of the women’s desks.
The head of the police department in Parachinar further elaborated the idea behind the desk and added, “The local culture is very sensitive regarding women, which helps us to build a separate women desk to encourage local women to approach police in a comfortable environment.”
The district police officer speaking to Bol News also said, “On the directives of KP Chief Minister Mahmood Khan, women desks have been established in police stations including tribal districts to facilitate women complaints and their grievances apart from providing them guidance on various issues.”
He elaborated over mainstreaming of the tribal districts and said that the women police desk was part of this process as after the merger of the tribal districts, the province had extended civilian policing to the former tribal areas. “The initiative took place last year by the ex-district police officer Mohammad Quraish with the hope to providing free legal aid, complaint writing and other services to the women in the conservative tribal system,” he said.
Responding to a question over the women staff and management in the women desk he revealed, “Initially, there were 15 policewomen posts advertised for the role in which eight policewomen successfully [qualified] for their duties. Three female officials [are] always present in the reporting room to help women in legal affairs.”
The police officer said that keeping the importance of women police desks in mind, we are going to establish two more reporting rooms, which will be set up in central Kurram and the Sadda subdivision. “This will create more jobs for around 50 lady constables in Kurram district.”
The spacious centre in Kurram has a playground for children and all the facilities for mothers are available.
Locals in the tribal district reportedly appreciate police efforts for empowering women in police and facilitating women in tribal areas of Pakistan. Locals in Parachinar lauded the initiative introduced in the typically male-dominated police stations aimed at helping women in Kurram district. Local tribal elders also feel that the KP police department took an exemplary step in setting up these desks.
The women’s desk in Parachinar was established in May 2020 and has so far dealt with more than 50 cases in Kurram. The data obtained from the police station in Kurram says that the majority of the cases were of domestic violence and land disputes of women in the area. Among the 59 cases lodged, 51 cases belong to domestic violence while the other seven cases were land disputes across the Kurram district.
The writer is a freelance contributor based in Peshawar.
Twitter: @JawadYousufxai
