Lahore police appointing more female investigators
Lahore police officials have decided to appoint more female police officers after positive public feedback regarding news of the posting of six lady officers as heads of investigation at different police stations in each of the six police divisions in the city.
Inspector Farhat was posted as the Investigation In-charge at Wahdat Colony police station, Sub-Inspector (SI) Sadaf Rasheed at Quaid-i-Azam Industrial Area police station, SI Sumaira Nazir at Model Town police station, SI Ambrin Rehman at Defence police station, SI Shazia Kausar at Akbari Gate and SI Sonia Liaqat at Racecourse police station.
Presently, Lahore has only one women police station out of 84, even though women constitute 48% of the city’s population. However, due to the nature of law enforcement duties, placing female officers in potentially dangerous positions is usually avoided.
Although these recent postings constitute barely 5% of the total, the move has been welcomed as it increases female representation in the police and inspires more women to take leadership roles.
A Lahore police department official shared that lack of female representation in police stations had gone unnoticed before, but they are now actively looking to lady police officers to stop gender discrimination.
Inspector-General of Police (IGP) Lahore Faisal Shahkar expressed his plan to encourage more female officers and change the station culture and the public’s perception of the police.
Sikh girl converts and marries Muslim boy, parents allege coercion
A school teacher Dina Kumari, formerly named Meena of the Sikh community Pacha Kale village in the Buner district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, allegedly accepted Islam and married a Muslim youth from her village.
The woman’s parents and the local Sikh community allege that she had been kidnapped and forcibly married to one Hizbullah. They have demanded government action against the incident.
Dina’s father, Gurcharan Lal, lodged a case with the police under abduction and forced conversion.
At the same time, the Buner Sikh community staged a protest against what they called a case of ‘kidnapping and forced marriage’ of a non-Muslim girl.
The Buner Police took the couple into custody from Shangla district and produced them before court, where “Dina” recorded her statement under Section 164 that she had converted and married of her free will. She implored the court to allow her to live with her husband as she did not want to return to her family.
In another video message released by “Dina”, she stated she affirmed that she willingly and happily accepted Islam, and married Hizbullah.
The groom, who belongs to the same village as the woman, has demanded protection from the government for him and his wife.
The incident has sparked fears of a rift between the Muslim and Sikh communities in Buner, prompting local leaders to try resolving the issue in light of the court’s verdict, evidence and the girl’s official statement.
Bannu clerics demand closure of family park
Hundreds of clerics and their followers in Bannu staged a protest against a family park on Sunday, demanding its closure and a ban on women visitors.
Demonstrators alleged that the park is a hotspot for vulgarity, citing the fact that thousands couples visited the park on August 14.
The family park, established in Bannu Cantonment, opened to the general public a year ago, sparking some controversy and inviting criticism from conservative locals.
This Independence Day, local clerics became enraged and warned authorities of ‘consequences’ if the park was not shut down. They asserted that no vulgarity under the cover of entertainment would be allowed in Bannu, and that there is no place for such parks in the district.
According to an official, most local residents stayed away from the protest. Roughly two thousand clerics and seminary students attended the demonstration, and that the situation, while tense, remained peaceful.
In response, the district administrators have invited leading clerics for table talks to resolve the matter.
