GWADAR: Balochistan opened its second women’s police station on Sunday, almost a year after the first such facility was set up in the provincial capital Quetta.

Inspector Masirah Baloch has been appointed as the station house officer of the newly inaugurated police station, located in the city of Turbat, the administrative centre of Kech district.

Balochistan’s first all-woman police station opened its doors in Quetta in March last year, though Pakistan’s first women-only police station was inaugurated in Islamabad by former prime minister Benazir Bhutto on Jan 25, 1994.

In November, the Balochistan police decided to open two new female police stations in Turbat and Gwadar and recruit 280 policewomen.

The provincial traffic police have also hired some women.

Gwadar likely to follow suit

The Balochistan’s inspector general of police (IGP), Abdul Khaliq Sheikh, while speaking at the opening ceremony, expressed the hope that the new police station would help women lodge their complaints with much ease.

He stressed that Islam ensures that women get their rights and justice. “History is witness that women have participated in wars and done business,” IGP Sheikh said, adding that a country could not progress until its women took part in nation-building.

He said women police officers were not less than men in talent and efficiency and they should use their skills for the betterment of society. He said that of the 403 female police officers in Balochistan, 46 were in the Kech district.

Deputy Inspector General of Police Masroor Alam Kolachi, Kech’s Superintendent of Police Mohammad Baloch, Kech’s Acting Deputy Commissioner Aqil Karim Baloch, and other police officials also attended the opening ceremony.

Published in Dawn, February 13th, 2023