LAHORE: US diplomats and National Highways and Motorway Police (NHMP) Inspector General Inam Ghani inaugurated a new barracks facility for 100 women police officials at the NHMP Training College in Sheikhupura. The facility, constructed by the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS), was born of a partnership between the NHMP and the US Mission in Pakistan.

The US Embassy in Islamabad’s Director of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement (INL) affairs Mark Tervakoski said, “This facility will help NHMP house new women recruits and, as more Pakistani women join the ranks of officers, they will inevitably widen police understanding of gender issues, and enhance the quality of service offered to all, and especially women.”

UNOPS Pakistan Country Manager Marysia Zapasnik said that social norms made it difficult for women to engage in policing until recently. “We believe that breaking this bias is fundamental to forging women’s equality and to ending discrimination. Our projects build infrastructure for women police officers so that more women can join the police profession, break stereotypes, create role models for other women, and provide a better, more inclusive service to the people of Pakistan.”

Copyright Business Recorder, 2022