In dominant patriarchal culture, Samina Zafar, a lady police officer in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Police is the first female officer who went on to supervise snow operation in Galiyat, Abbottabad, which made her the first woman to lead the region during the winter season.
When we think of police, we picture a man in imagination who is saviour of protection of our lives at the cost of his own life but it was little bit different when inspite of him dressed in black Pantaloon with dark blue nameplate on her sweater I found Samina busy in coordinating with all-men line departments during first snow of season to ensure early removal of snow from major roads and for management of traffic.
Samina who was born on December 25, 1975 hails from a lower middle class family of Haripur district. Beating all odds, she joined the police service in 1996 and has been with Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa police force for 26 years where she had taken part in several operations and has solved many complicated cases. She rose through police ranks while remaining at several key positions as a crime preventor, an investigator, an administrator and by overseeing security in a women’s protection cell.
Prior to joining Abbottabad Traffic Police in August, she served as a Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) Administration Police Training School Mansehra. She also oversaw the provincial Elite force Hazara as an acting Commander in 2018. These roles have helped sharpen Samina’s skills and kept her well-informed about the different aspects of policing.
An interesting interaction with Samina took place by chance luckily some days before, when I was visiting Galiyat for filing a story. She was grinning and her confidence was almost contagious.
On why she joined police force, Samina said, “I believe that a woman is completely secure in uniform. When a woman comes in uniform one gets a different kind of feeling. My parents always taught me the lesson of fighting fears to muster courage for my next challenges. This was the reason that I decided to join the police force.”
Sameena recalls her duties at women police stations and district complaints cells at Abbottabad and Haripur where she had to be on call 24-hours a day. “I try my best to ensure that everyone especially females who come to us leave feeling like they have been served,”she said.
In Abbottabad, she shot to fame while rescuing an injured person on the day of Holy Prophet PBUH’s birth when violence erupted during processions in Havellian in October 2021. The clip of rescuing and transporting injured one to a local hospital during violence by her promptly went viral across social media platforms, with people saluting her for her service, calling hero a “hero lady in black uniform”.
In a country where policing is a notorious profession, Samina takes the lead in challenging the established practices and perceptions. She risking her own life set a wonderful example of selflessness and bravery, truly showing the world how a dedicated follower of Islam should be. Not only rescued injured persons but she and her team held their positions and kept pushing back until the rioters finally left.
“I was doing my duty and busy in rescuing injured persons when someone filmed me and made me famous like pawri girl,” Samina smiled while referring to a 19-year-old Dananeer Mobeen who shot to fame after she shared her vedio on her social media account.
Soon she became a popular figure in Abbottabad, she was given responsibility of traffic management during winter season in Galiyat. She has shattered the glass ceiling as being the first woman officer worked through the night during unprecedented snowstorm of January and as a result no casualty was reported from Galiyat. The tireless efforts, vigilance and devotion to duty of Samina Zafar, the Deputy Superintendent of Police, was praised by the officers and public alike.
When asked to elucidate the January 8 snowstorm, she says, Galiyat by virtue of its high altitude was exposed to weather extremes in winter spreading around 4 months from December to March. The low temperature, fog, snowfall, landslides, avalanches and the consequent blockade of roads resulting in inaccessibility of the areas are some of the common features.
The unprecedented snowfall was already predicted by the Pakistan Metrological Department (PMD) and The Provincial Disaster Management Authority, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (PDMA-KP) had issued an alert to the relevant quarters so to adopt measures to prevent fatal incidents. “we initiated the process of winter contingency planning from November by involving all stakeholders,” she asserted.
Abbottabad Traffic Police had chalked out a comprehensive plan following the District Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) as they had earlier finalised a winter contingency plan ahead of the upcoming snow that had been forecast in hilly areas from Monday, Jan 03 to January 08. They conducted joint meetings with representatives of all sister departments in which joint action plan was presented with detailed mechanisms to ensure snow clearance and smooth flow of traffic in Galiyat. Samina was assigned with the task to supervise snow operation while remaining in field along with her counterparts from district administration, security police and from Galiyat Development Authority to avoid any tragedy.
Some two days before snowstorm, she organized a training session in Nathia Galli to educate the field staff in which administrative staff, rescue workers, GDA staff, police personnel from security and traffic wings attended the moot. They were given guideline by higher ups about requisite mitigation measures and undertaking a coordinated response to minimize the loss of life and property in the events of disasters.
As per security plan, during whole season police check posts at entry and exit points to Galiyat were established with extra deployment of police. Snow removing machinery was also made operational.
Samina in her initial posting had to face chain mafia who in past were looting the tourists by providing them chains for their vehicles tyres and charging hefty amount as they had no option but to pay them. She said " I with the help of Additional Assistant Commissioner Ameen ul Hassan took sharp action against them as they were charging higher for chains".
While describing the January snowstorm, she said that snowfall began in Galiyat on Monday night that continued at regular intervals and thousands of visitors thronged to Galiyat to enjoy snow. At that time, extra wardens at different points were deployed to guide the tourists and advise them not to park cars on the road to take selfies and pictures as it caused traffic jams on the main road.
On Friday evening the snowstorm and intense winds had uprooted trees that had fallen on the roads. Not just felling of trees but unprecedented snowstorm and avalanches became the reason for traffic jams. Most tourists left the area on time but many who were thrilled to see snowfall, were not ready to leave the place. They were seen taking selfies and photos along roadside with the large number of vehicles illegally parked on roads further reduced the space available for machinery to move which ultimately caused hindrance in the smooth flow of traffic.
“My team and I managed to reach the affected site to ensure each tourist was safe. Though heavy snow had made it impossible to drive but on foot with the help of locals and hoteliers of Galiyat we prevented most of tourists including women, and children from being trapped by the tragic snowstorm”. She explains.
All of them were evacuated and shifted to the nearby hotels, masjids and houses where they gave them food and provided place to sleep for the survivors. The rescue operation ended before dawn and no untoward accident had occurred in the area where five feet of snow fell at that day.
The tourists when evacuated not only thanked Samina for her devoted efforts but they were amazed by the hospitality and friendly behaviour of the inhabitants and the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Police.
Samina termed it a team work and said” No doubt, it was a collective responsibility which has been performed in a proper manner. The performance of Police, rescue , GDA, administration and other relevant departments remained up to the mark. The situation remained under control due to effective measures taken by them”.
Meanwhile Sarmad Faraz Abbasi, an inhabitant of area who is an advocate in Peshawar High Court hailed Samina’s swift action, saying due to the seriousness of Mrs. Samina Galiyat remained safe for tourers as unlike Murree no such casualty reported from Galiyat neither any case of profiteering or chain mafia was heard. Though tourists remained stuck but till the roads become accessible they were treated as guests in Galiyat.
While tourists, officers and people from all segments of society paid tribute to Samina who had acted in a professional way by remaining on roads for whole the night which they said will always be remembered.
Amna Sardar, a former lawmaker hailing from Galiyat commended the role of Samina Zafar. “Samina is a lionhearted officer who was credited previously for spearheading women’s service in the valorous Elite Force — a department trained in counter-terrorism, guerilla warfare and martial arts”, she remarked.
Amna is of view this is the first occasion in Galiyat when a lady police officer was leading field staff of line departments including rescue, police and Galiyat Development Authority who expertly commanded rescue operations during crises until the last tourist is saved.
“Samina did us proud. The way she responded to the calamity speaks of her vigilance, professionalism and passion. This is what we expect from our officers,” Mirvais Niaz, Deputy Inspector General of Hazara police remarked while awarding her with merit certificate for his outstanding performance.
Shabnam Nawaz is an Advocate Supreme Court who opined that it was a general perception that only men could join the forces for being able to do tough fieldwork but Samina had proved that women could serve better than men in the forces. She is astonished as why the government has not awarded her for her professionalism. She urged the authorities concerned to acknowledge the services of these unsung heroes of Police like DSP Samina Zafar to raise the morale of the women in force.