LAHORE: Nausheen Kanwal is the first female station house officer (SHO) in the history of the Mughalpura Railway Police Station.

She is the 66th station house officer (SHO) of the police station but the only woman on the long list of the SHOs since its inception in 1982. She commands the beat from the Lahore Railway Station till the Wagah Railway Station.

“I feel happy that I made history. I’m also happy to say that my performance, not my gender, got me this role,” she told Dawn.

Sub-Inspector Nausheen Kanwal joined the force in 2014 and until 2020 she oversaw the criminal record office. She was engaged as a law instructor in 2020 but now oversees the police station.

She says that her appointment as the SHO has sparked a healthy competition among her male and female coworkers. But she is not the only woman serving in the railway police as there are many others as well.

Constable Aneela Raheem holds the charge of the help desk at the Rawalpindi Railway Station while Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) Saman Mukhtar is the in-charge of the support desk at Lahore.

According to the railway police data, the railway police force currently employs 300 women. The total sanctioned posts in the force are 7,300 while of them, 4,600 are working now.

A railways spokesperson said the visibility of policewomen in uniform at railway installations would increase with time.

Earlier, the trend of deploying women officials in the desk-related jobs prevailed in the force or they frequently performed official tasks like record keeping. But now the trend is changing.

For a few months, Inspector Naila Ashraf served as the acting DSP in Rawalpindi while now she is an inspector at the Central Diesel Locomotive Station. Inspector Tayyaba has a field position at the main station of Rawalpindi while SI Sidra is an investigating officer for the Havelian Railway Police.

According to a spokesperson for Pakistan Railways Inspector General (IG) Rao Sardar Ali Khan, the department has a policy that supports women to work in the field.

“The passengers have also started observing the presence of female police officials at railway stations,” he says and adds that a thorough strategy has been developed for the women police personnel to play a proactive role in the force. Now, every major railway station has two teams of women police officers on duty. Considering the importance of the safety of women travellers, Safar Saheli, a digital app, has been introduced to assist police in gathering reports of harassment at train terminals and on trains. A woman SI and two constables advise the female passengers about the precautions to be taken throughout the travel at the start of a railway trip, similar to what happens on aeroplanes. Additionally, the railway administration has introduced separate berths and seats for women passengers travelling alone.

However, Nasuheen Kanwal has a word of warning for women passengers or those who are on the rail property. “Keep in mind that any crime or unforeseen circumstance can occur anywhere, any moment.”

The best protection, in her opinion, is to book a seat in advance and keep one’s medical history and emergency numbers in the pocket or luggage.

“There is no need to worry because no crimes have been reported in my beat since I took over as SHO last month,” she says.

Nausheen attributes the efficient operations to her field vigilance and the assistance of her coworkers to spring into action whenever they receive a call for assistance.

Published in Dawn, December 26th, 2022