Viral video: Policewoman who stopped PTI supporter from hurling stone at officer rewarded

ASI Farzana claims she was scratched by the party worker when she snatched the stone

ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan on Saturday rewarded a policewoman who on October 27 caught a PTI supporter and stopped her from throwing a stone at an officer.

ASI Farzana Begum, who also heads the Women Police Station in Islamabad, was presented with a cheque of Rs50,000 and a commendation certificate by the interior minister.



On Thursday evening, police had cracked down around 200 to 250 PTI workers as they held a youth convention in Sector E-11. After the incident, PTI supporters had posted a video of a woman party worker shouting at police officials for manhandling her.

In the video, which has since gone viral, the PTI worker introduced herself as Smavia Tahir. “Don’t you have any shame? You claim to be protecting us [but treat women like this],” said Tahir while addressing the police officials at the scene. She said she was the daughter of a soldier and that the government will face the consequences of what it was doing.



However, the next day Islamabad Police also released a video on their official Facebook page showing Farzana Begum tackling Tahir and detaining the PTI worker. In the video, the policewoman said that all she did was snatch a stone from Tahir’s hands with which she was going to attack a police officer.

“ I was on duty on October 27 when I saw a woman with a stone in her hand who wanted to hit a police officer, I tried to snatch the stone from her and in reaction she left these scars on my face and neck,” Farzana said in the video while pointing to scars on her neck.



“I have been working in Islamabad Police for 17 years. Being law-enforcers, our duty is to implement the state’s regulations. We are in uniform but we are also women and we too have rights. I did not hurt that woman while doing my duty but she left these scars on my face. I tried to stop her from throwing the stone,” she added.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 30^th, 2016.