After 17 years, Lahore gets a female SHO

Ghazala Sharif has been appointed the SHO of the Rang Mahal Police Station

LAHORE ': A female sub-inspector was appointed the station house officer (SHO) of a regular police station in Lahore on Friday.

DIG Operations Dr Haider Ashraf promoted Ghazala Sharif to the post of the Rang Mahal Police Station SHO - making her the first woman to have been appointed to this position in the city after 17 years.

Besides, sub-inspector Nabila Kausar has been appointed the SHO of the women's Race Course Police Station (RCPS).

The Punjab CM 's Strategic Reforms Unit (Law & Order) tweeted:

Proud to announce that @Lahorepoliceops appointed first female SHO in #Lahore after 17 years-#womenempowerment for a stronger #Pakistan pic.twitter.com/GohqQPMC76

— Former Chief Minister's SRU (@smucmo) May 19, 2017

Lahore, the provincial capital of Punjab, a city of approximately 15 million people, has 84 police stations. However, there is only one women's police station in the city. The RCPS is used to keep female suspects behind bars. Cases whereby both the suspect and the person who has filed a complaint are female are registered at the RCPS.



The DIG's step to appoint a female SHO came as a result of new officers receiving training specifically for this post.  A refresher and training course of over a 100 inspectors and sub-inspectors including women was conducted at the Qila Gujjar Singh Police Lines.

There are five more female officers who are going under training and doing refresher course for SHOs. They would also be considered to be posted as SHOs.

The purpose of the refresher course was to bring forth new officers who could be posted as SHOs.

For many years, the police department, because of a shortage of trained officers, have had to persist with a certain pool of officers to fill the SHO slots.

Apart from Ghazala, other female sub-inspectors are also taking the refresher course so that they can be considered for appointment as SHOs.