Pak's Sindh Province Inducts Women In Anti-Terror Ops

The Sindh government of Pakistan has recruited more than 40 women in the police’s counter terror department for combat service and intelligence gathering. This is the first time in the history of Sindh province that women are being recruited in anti-terror operations, a media report said on Sunday, June 4.

Pakistan Army officials said that they would train the women after they get selected in the written tests, interviews and medical exams. The Dawn reported that after a training period of six months, the women would be recruited as police constables.

According to a document by the police called ‘Final results of recruitment as police constable in Counter-Terrorism Department (CTD) and Rapid Response Force’, a total 46 women and 1,461 men were selected from not only cities but also from rural and urban areas.

"After advertisement in newspapers in October 2016, a total of 50,562 candidates applied for the post of constables and finally 30,821 appeared in physical test," said an official, citing details of the recruitment process.

The report said that the women's percentage in police is still very low -- which is less than 2 per cent though there have been laws adopted for the protection of women’s rights. According to the National Police Bureau (NPB), out of 391,364 police personnel in the country, only 5,731 are women.

The report further said that cultural norms, traditions and lack of encouragement from the government were some of the factors which were responsible for the low women ratio in the police force.

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