Day: October 13, 2012

By: Tariq Farid

LAHORE: Women police personnel are only 0.86 percent of the total police force in the country and yet they cannot find any important position such as investigation officer or a prosecutor due to gender discrimination in the police department.

There are 19 women police stations in the country, including seven in Gilgit-Baltistan, three in Punjab, six in Sindh, two in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and one in Islamabad. There is no woman police station in Balochistan.

There are 3,700 women police personnel working across the country, which is less than one percent of the total police force. Women police stations have also proved ineffective so far, as most of the police stations across the country have just registered one or two cases in 10 to 15 years.

According to a survey conducted by the Individualland, a research-based consultancy and advocacy group, women police is mostly not allowed by the department to register FIRs and it is also discouraged to conduct investigation.

A group of women police officials shared their view and problems at a consultative session on Friday hosted by the Individualland in partnership with Royal Norwegian Embassy. “Women police officials are usually kept away from demanding field duties and are mostly confined to office work,” said Head Constable Noreen Afzal, who works for Railway Police.

“The career paths are not really defined for women police officials and they are often not encouraged by seniors despite the fact that both men and women work the same hours and get the same training,” said Constable Asifa Hussainl at the workshop.

SSP (Railways) Aslam Shahzad said that the police department has developed a soft image with the inclusion of women force. “Women police personnel have added decency to thana culture,” he added. Shahzad said that due to departmental policy and political interference, the number of women in the police was less.

Workshop participants were told that there were some model police stations in the country where women staff has been appointed for the benefit of women complainants. “A recent survey by Individualland on the women police shows that most of the officials were not happy at all with their working conditions. They complain about the male dominance in the department and less opportunities of progress,” Sundas Hussain, the project coordinator told the audience.

Daily Times

Karachi: The district and sessions judge (South) on Friday summoned the station house officer (SHO) and a constable of the Karachi Cantt police station to appear in court on Saturday (today) after a woman complained that the constable had abducted her niece.

Judge Hasan Feroz issued the summon orders after two court bailiffs raided the police station to recover the girl, Rubina, but did not find her there.

Razia, maternal aunt of Rubina, filed an application in the court, complaining that after her niece Rubina arrived from Punjab on Friday morning, police constable Safdar kidnapped her and demanded Rs50,000 to free her.

The plaintiff informed the court that Safdar had been making phone calls to her from the police station. The court then directed Head Bailiff Mudassar and Bailiff Arif to raid the police station and recover the girl. The team raided the police station but did not find Rubina there.

When the policeman was called and inquired about the girl, he claimed that the girl was being kept at the Central Police Head Office. This was brought to the notice of the judge, who summoned the SHO and the constable to explain why the girl was caught and kept in illegal detention and why she was removed from the police station.

The News

LARKANA: Parents kept their nine-year-old daughter in chains for four months for fear she might flee home, it emerged on Friday. Police found Mehrunissa Bhutto chained to the trunk of a date-palm tree when they raided the premises of her house in Ghulam Bhutto village on the outskirts of the city on Friday.

ASP Abrar Hussain told Dawn police were was tipped off by a TV reporter about the girl. She had been brought to the Haidri police station and her father, Jan Mohammad Bhutto, had been picked up, he said. Mehrunissa showed journalists signs of torture and scars on her legs and arms and told them that her parents used to keep her in chains and subject her to severe beatings.

She said her parents feared she would escape like her younger sister Kanwal. Her sister quietly slipped away about four months ago after having become fed up with her parents’ inhuman behaviour, she said.

Her father, Jan Mohammad, said his daughter was mentally challenged and he had to put her in chains to restrict her movements because he was afraid she might escape like her sister. The ASP dismissed the father’s statement and said the girl had been behaving normally throughout. SHO Aijaz Pathan said that Sanam, the victim’s mother, had admitted to torturing her.

She would be produced in court on Saturday.

Dawn

By: khaliqgul

ISLAMABAD: Calling for zero tolerance towards child marriage, a latest report of the United Nations has feared that the number of girl child marriages will increase dramatically over the next 10 years and more than 142 million girls are at risk of this human rights abuse.

The number of children marrying each year will grow by 14 per cent from 14.2 million in 2010 to 15.1 million in 2030 if current trends continue, warns the report titled “Marrying too Young: End Child Marriage” released by the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA).

In South Asia alone, the number of child brides is likely to increase from 24.4 million (4.9 million per year) in 2010 to 27.9 million (5.6 million per year) in 2030. South Asia has the highest prevalence of child marriages with 46 per cent followed by sub-Sahara Africa with 37 per cent.

In Pakistan, the report says, about 5,000 new cases of obstetric fistula occur every year, with young girls disproportionately affected. The UNFPA launched a fistula repair project in Pakistan as part of an overall programme to improve maternal health and now it is launching another programme with focus on ending child marriage and early pregnancy.

In Punjab, the UN agency supported the formulation of a youth policy which addresses child marriage and early pregnancy. Youth networks raised awareness in their communities about the danger of child marriage, the report said.

Dawn