WUNRN
AFGHANISTAN - WOMEN POLICE OFFICERS
- RISKS & BENEFITS
Authorities
condemn the July 21 killing of junior police officer Parveena and highlight the
vital role policewomen play.
By Nesar Ahmad - 2013-07-31
NANGARHAR,
Afghanistan – Afghan authorities have condemned the July 21 slaying of policewoman
Parveena and acknowledged the need for females on the police force.
Afghan policewomen
receive instruction on shooting at the Afghan National Police Academy shooting
range in Kabul December 9. Afghan militants have been targeting female police
officers, officials say. [REUTERS/Omar Sobhani]
Unidentified
militants gunned down Parveena in the Landi Basool area of Momandara District,
Nangarhar Province, when she and her family were heading to her father-in-law's
house, District Police Chief Esa Khan Zhwak said.
The 33-year-old
mother of three was a junior police officer in the 5th police district of
Jalalabad, Nangarhar Police spokesman Hazrat Hussain Mashraqiwal told Central
Asia Online.
Policewomen
work despite threats
Parveena's main job
was to search female suspects and residences, Interior Ministry spokesman
Farooq Mangal said.
"The
investigation is on-going but incomplete," he said.
No one has claimed
responsibility, Mashraqiwal said, but he suspects Taliban militants were behind
the killing, he said.
Militant attacks on
policewomen have happened before in Afghanistan, Mashraqiwal said.
Islam Bibi, a senior
police officer, was killed in early July when she was going to work with her
son-in-law in Helmand Province, he said. In September 2008 the Taliban killed
Malalai Kakar, chief of the Kandahar city police's department of crimes against
women.
The Interior
Ministry has condemned the attacks on policewomen but said they have not
prevented women from working as or with police.
Benefits to
having women on police force
Sahira Sharif, a
member of parliament from Paktia Province, condemned the killings and expressed
the need for policewomen.
"Afghanistan is
a country with a male-dominated culture and tradition," Sharif said.
"It is very difficult to work as policewomen in this country. But in spite
of all these dangers and challenges, Afghan women work bravely alongside their
brothers to serve the country."
Policewomen in
Afghanistan have played a role in the war on terror, too, Mangal said. Because
they are the ones who search female suspects, in March 2012 they helped in the
arrest of seven male Taliban in Laghman Province who were dressed
in women's clothing. As soon as the search found that the suspects were
male, policemen were called in to finish the job.
Although the
militants oppose the prospect of women serving as police, female Brig. Gen.
Sharifa told Central Asia Online she never faced any problems from her
colleagues or the public in her 40 years on the force.
"I have always
enjoyed the support of my parents, and now I am a mother of four – three sons
and a daughter," she said, " and my daughter is also in the
police."
Policewomen are
essential to investigations, search operations and even in prisons, Sharifa
said.
"Men and women
in police are like two wings of a bird," she said, noting that one depends
on the other as they work together.
Afghanistan will
recruit 5,000 more female policemen by 2014, she said, encouraging young women
to come forward and join the police force. The country now has 2,000
policewomen, Afghanistan.ru reported July 29, quoting Hekmat Shahi, chief of
the Interior Ministry Gender Department.