Officer fighting crime and Covid-19

Late in March of 2020, when the country started seeing its initial spikes in coronavirus cases, imposing an immediate nationwide lockdown seemed like the only choice. Businesses suspended, schools shut and curfews imposed— this was the ghastly face of what the new-normal appeared to look like.

However, when much of Pakistan locked its doors and went into isolation, there were few on whom fell a greater responsibility of remaining on duty. In times of uncertainty and chaos, it was them the nation looked towards for hope and fortitude.

Hailing from the city of Peshawar, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Police’s Assistant Sub-inspector (ASI) Saima Sharif, is one such officer who stood her ground on the frontlines of crime and Covid-19.

While still working as an ASI, Sharif responded to a call for Prime Minister’s coronavirus task-force, to shoulder the many responsibilities of a country in turmoil. She was stationed at a high-risk women’s quarantine centre, tasked with providing security, food, medicine and other essentials to the centre’s inhabitants.

Around the same time, when Peshawar was trying to make sense of Covid-19, crime too was observed to be on the rise. Nefarious outfits saw the encumbered police force as the perfect opportunity to take to the streets and wreak havoc.

“Lawlessness was gaining momentum and I was told by my station to immediately respond to a campaign to root-out crime and arrest wanted criminals,” said ASI Sharif. “The first call I got at the time was a report for a murder case in the small village of Jala Bela. We headed there right away, raided the hideout and arrested the accused. Everyone had to know we weren’t letting any crime go unseen no matter how occupied the force was,” she added.

As a recognition of her commitment and fortitude in the line of duty, ASI Saima Sharif was selected to represent Pakistan in the United Nations (UN) World Peace Mission, making the 29-year old officer the first Pakistani woman to be granted the opportunity.

Hailing from a small rural district in the outskirts of the provincial capital, the ASI’s father, an elderly man with a fading eyesight, said that Sharif has always exhibited exemplary commitment to her duties.

“She would work 10 hours on normal days, but during the pandemic’s height, she’d spend 22-24 hours on duty every day. But somehow, Saima has always managed to be there for her family. I am proud of my daughter’s achievements and pray for her success with every breath,” he expressed.

Talking about her experience as a frontline officer during the worse of Covid-19, ASI Saima Sharif said that the lockdown had initially curbed street-crime to a great degree.

“But that was short lived. Soon enough however, people’s worry of unemployment and thinning finances started feeding people to their vices. Domestic abuse cases were seen to be skyrocketing the most. In just one month of lockdown, over 17 domestic violence cases were reported in my precinct,” she told.

According to the assistant sub-inspector, the lifting of the lockdown unleashed new challenges for the local police force. When traffic restored and markets and businesses reopened in September, there was suddenly all the incentive crime needed to reemerge from the shadows. “In just the month of September there were two robberies worth Rs40 million in Peshawar. In Faiqabad police station over Rs30 million were reported to be looted from a citizen at gunpoint, while a gold trader was looted for Rs10 million and shot in resistance. Similarly, over 19 cases of motorcycle theft, 11 cases of mobile-phone snatching and three cases of targeted violence were reported in the city,” ASI Shareef informed The Express Tribune.

Published in The Express Tribune, November 1^st, 2020.