Inspector General of Police (IGP) Islamabad, Wajid Ali Durrani has said that women representation in police department and policing system is vital for the resolution of gender related issues. "The presence of women officers in police department will ensure support to women victims of violence as well as protecting their rights," IGP Durrani said while addressing the two-day 'First National Women Police Conference' and launch of Women Police Network held here on Wednesday.
More than 50 women police officers from all over Pakistan and Azad Jammu Kashmir have attended the conference. The Gender Responsive Policing Project, which is a joint initiative of the National Police Bureau and the German International Co-operation (GIZ) has been facilitating the police organisations in creating awareness and promoting women's role in policing and is funded by German Foreign Office, Gender Audit of Police Organisations, Gender Analysis of Police Training Curriculum, Consultations on Gender Strategy for Police.
IGP Durrani said that personal aspirations of women officers to excel could help them deal with internal and external resistance to their empowerment. "Women's self-confidence and organisation's faith on their potential can make a huge difference in their outlook and participation in policing processes", he maintained. Durrani said that police department is bound to create opportunities for capacity building of its officers and officials and it is duty of the police employees to grab these opportunities.
Wajid Durrani said that Islamabad police is committed to increase the number of women officers in police and would like to create awareness among the potential women population in this regard. He also mentioned that the Islamabad Police have taken practical steps in adopting the sexual harassment policy by notifying a mechanism and disseminating the relevant information through a publication. Azam Joya, Additional IGP (Investigation) Punjab Police said that in recent times, the police service in Pakistan is facing many challenges and strategic utilisation of available human resource is one way to contribute to meeting the security and protection needs of the citizens.
Ferdinand Jenrich, second Secretary, Political and Economics, Embassy of the Republic of Germany said that the women police are in small numbers in Pakistan and this is so in other parts of the world as well. Being in small numbers, however, doesn't mean their role is not important and they are not entitled to better positioning.
This Conference is a good opportunity to trigger thinking about where we are and how we can improve the role and visibility of women in police, he said, adding that the co-operation of Germany for making a meaningful difference in the lives of women, men, girls and boys of Pakistan in collaboration with the Pakistani counterparts would be continued.
Director National Police Bureau, Mehmood Alam said that the conference brought us together to reflect on enhancing the role of women's police in policing. He said that there are issues of numbers, seniority, opportunities, capacity, traditional mindset, lack of will and operational priority to find ways of active engagement of women in policing functions.
In her welcome address, Principal Advisor GIZ-GRP, Dr Khola Iram said that the Gender Responsive Policing Project together with the National Police Bureau in co-operation with all the Police organisations and the valuable input of the members of Steering Committee on Human Rights & Gender Issues; is working towards a more inclusive and gender just police service.
She said that the objectives of the conference was to provide a forum for dialogue and mutual learning on promoting women's role in policing, to learn about the ways and means to capacity enhancement and sharing of policing experiences and building alliances for service provision and support to women victims of violence, also introduce the concept of Women Police Network represented by women police officers.
The participants of the conference were unanimous in saying that the restricted exposure to policing limits women's opportunities to have field experience and hinders their career advancement. Recognising the fact that women police is not systematically trained in specialised policing functions, we in PTS Chung have established a women campus and started the specialised skills courses for women police, they said, adding that the first batch of 20 women officers has completed the advance investigation course and we are in process of posting them in police stations as Investigation officers (IOs).
Comments
Comments are closed.