The tribal district of Kurram, one of the most conservative areas in the country, is now home to one of the country’s handful of female-led police stations. But while we have seen women appointed as station house officers before, most of these have been in urban areas. What makes the appointment of Samreen Amir even more unique is not only that it is in a rural police station, but that she is from the minority Christian community.
Amir has already been involved in raids and other fieldwork in Kurram consistent with the requirements of her new role, but the most important thing about her appointment may be the creation of an ally for women in the area. As things stand, women in Kurram and similarly conservative areas may not even feel comfortable talking to a man, even to report a crime, let alone several other interactions for government services. Having a woman in a prominent office may help women feel more confident and comfortable about exercising their rights.
While affirmative action is not without its hiccups, the fact of the matter is that Pakistan remains among the world’s most dangerous countries for women. While some ultra-nationalists will quickly claim that India is even worse, that is no consolation to thousands of Pakistani women who must suffer in silence because neither society nor the state was willing to stand by them. Having women as SHOs opens an avenue not only for women to lodge complaints — we already had women reporting centres and a few women-only police stations — but for the complaints to be reviewed, investigated and pursued by someone who does not think that the complainant is just ‘weak’ or ‘doing it for the attention’.
While progress in the traffic police is welcome — they are among the police officials who have the most frequent interaction with everyday people — guaranteeing the presence of women at district-level police meetings also ensures that more serious women’s issues, especially violent crimes against women, are harder to ignore or brush aside.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 15th, 2023.
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