ISLAMABAD: A sharp knife secretly kept by a lady police constable of Islamabad, apparently to protect herself from sexual harassment by her male colleagues, led to her arrest at the main entry gate of parliament on Wednesday as the in-camera briefing was going on.

The lady, who was immediately arrested on charges of carrying a weapon, as panic gripped the parliament building when it was reported to the parliamentarians that an unknown woman wearing police uniform had tried to breach the security but was caught.

The dramatic arrest of the woman reminded many of a shocking episode three years ago when a rape victim, Sonia Naz, had entered the National Assembly hall in the hope of getting justice for her missing husband Asim Yousuf.

After remaining in Adiala jail for three nights, it had emerged that she was a victim of police violence and had no motives whatsoever to harm anyone sitting in the house. But, this single event had destroyed her life. When she returned to Faisalabad after getting a bail, she was kidnapped by the top police cop who subjected her to rape and torture and she continued to run to save her life from the forces against whom she had tried to get justice.

On Wednesday, sources said, a woman wearing a police uniform came to the entry gate No 1 and tried to pass through the scanners which had started buzzing. She was immediately surrounded as security guards wanted to know whether she was carrying explosives to bomb the parliament building.

Sources said, during the investigations the lady constable disclosed that she was carrying the knife simply because she was facing sexual harassment from her male colleagues. “This was the only weapon available to me to keep the aggressive male cops away from me,” the lady constable is said to have told her investigators.

Talking to The News, SSP (security) Islamabad Dr Naeem Khan confirmed that the arrest but hastened to add that the woman was a lady police constable who was stopped at the entry gate by security guards of the National Assembly secretariat.

National Assembly Secretary Karamat Hussain Niazi also confirmed the incident but said the issue was resolved on the spot after the woman apologised to the guards for entering into the building.
Source: The News
Date:10/16/2008