In 1994, when former premier (late) Benazir Bhutto introduced the first women police station in Artillery Ground Police Station Karachi, its objective was to facilitate victims of gender violence and address reluctance of women to approach male-dominated police stations to lodge their complaints. With the passage of time, however, Ms Bhutto’s initiative has failed to meet its goals as succeeding governments remained disinterested in improving the working conditions of female constables. This led to the deterioration of the entire infrastructure and souring of a very good idea which would have helped women immensely.

Rather than being a women-friendly organization with a mandate to prevent crime through just and impartial law enforcement and investigation, the role of the female police today is restricted to assisting in maintenance of law and order and detaining women in their lock-up on orders from higher officials.

Contrary to the role assigned to them in 1994, the staff at women’s police station ñ which has the jurisdiction of the entire city ñ is unable to exercise its powers as they are not allowed to register a formal FIR (without orders from the DIG) hence do not have any investigation powers either. Even the Women Complaint Cell has no authority to register complaints.

Moreover, the Women Police Station does not have an allotted building in official government documents either. That is why time and again the staff had to be shifted from one place to another. Since the WPS did not have an official building, the male constables at Artillery Ground Police Station convinced them to shift to a smaller portion of the building (comprising two rooms only) and a few years later in 2003, they were shifted to PIDC where it is currently located.

A visit to the police station clearly shows the negligence of the higher authorities who have made no effort to publicize the location of the only women police station in the city ñ let alone the renovation of the station. The staff is confined to working at the police station as they do not have means of transport either.

“This had not always been the case,” clarifies Lubna Tiwana, former SHO Women Police Station. “When the model police station was first introduced in 1994 it was functioning just as Ms.Bhutto had envisaged. The situation was much better and the female police did not follow the dictates of the DIG. They lodged FIRs and conducted investigation as well. We also had a police mobile.” Tiwana particularly mentioned the contribution of SHO Farrukh Saleem during whose tenure (1994 to 1998) the staff’s performance was at its best.

“The reason the female police are ineffective today is because most of the staff is illiterate and untrained,” says Muhammad Ali, an official at Roshni Helpline ñ an NGO working to prevent violence against women. “It is surprising how various organizations talk of ‘fighting for human rights’ but have done nothing to pressurize the government to improve women policing ñ which is the first place a victim of violence visits to seek justice,” he laments. Moreover, it has been learnt that there is no motivation or effort from the present staff in order to improve their condition or fight back for their previous right to investigate cases.

Ali, who has done an extensive study on the subject, adds that corruption seeped into the system after the induction of SHO Maryam Qazi, who for her “personal benefit” permitted the male constables to take over the police station. She was later promoted to the rank of a DSP (Deputy Superintendent of Police) and eventually lost her interest in policing. After her transfer, SHO Mohammadi Begum took over who, despite her efforts, was unable to reclaim the old building for their functioning.

However, SHO Lubna Tiwana in 1999 managed to persuade the authorities during her short one-year tenure. “We got the mobile van back and with the help of NGOs began taking up cases independently for investigation as well,” she recalls. Later in 2000, after her transfer, SHO Salma Begum took over. She failed to sustain the system and eventually the authority to register FIRs had to be taken from them.

It has been learnt that the authorities were compelled to do so due to lack of motivation from the female constables who did not take their jobs seriously. “They frequently apply for a leave and on refusal from the SHO (who is their direct supervisor) they approach the IG to have their leave sanctioned,” adds Ali. The non-seriousness of the female police can be gauged from the fact that in the case of training sessions, most of the female staff is “excused” from attendance so they can attend their chores at home instead.

With the current state of disempowerment at the only women police station in Karachi, the announcement of increasing the number of women police stations by Shehla Raza, Deputy Speaker Provincial Assembly, at a recent seminar comes as a surprise. Observers say that this would not help improve the situation unless women police stations are given back their powers to report and investigate cases.

“With the increasing number of cases of violence being reported, the female police should be handed over the authority to investigate cases of rape and domestic violence that the male police often shrug off as an ‘internal affair’ of the complainant,” said War Against Rape (WAR) programme coordinator Sarah Zaman. Arbitrary recruitment and promotion with complete disregard for merit should also be discouraged and reforms should be brought about through training sessions compelling female constables to be more pro-active, added another activist.