Female cops guarding railroad

Nausheen Kanwal – the first female SHO of railway police

Lahore: Nausheen Kanwal heads the Mughulpura Railway Police Station and has special reasons to be a proud station house officer of the Lahore division police station.

“The police station was established in 1982, the year of my birth,” she smiles.

“And now I am the 66th SHO of this police station and the only female on the list of SHOs since its inception.”

The railway police have engaged more female cops in field duties since Inspector General of Pakistan Railway Police Rao Sardar Ali Khan took over earlier this year. These women in uniform are seen around railway stations and on trains too.

Earlier, female police officials tended to be engaged in official duties like record keeping.

Nausheen Kanwal joined the force as a sub-inspector in 2014, and till 2020, she was in charge of the criminal record office, which mainly dealt with archiving of records. In 2020, she was posted as a law instructor. Now, she is in charge of the police station.

“I was posted as the first-ever SHO not to let the public or media feel good about the railways; I was given the post because of my performance,” she says.

“And I’m thankful to my seniors, particularly SP Maaz Zafar and IG Rao Sardar Ali for placing trust in me.”

According to IG Railways Rao Sardar, the security of passengers is the first and foremost responsibility of the railway police; hence, concrete steps are being taken in this regard to enhance the security parameters on trains through the use of technology.

“Similarly, to maximise the performance of the force, merit-based transfers and postings are being rationalised so that the performance of the staff is timely assessed and evaluated.”

Nausheen sits in a sleepy police station near the Mughalpura Railway Station, along the deserted railway lines. She heads a staff of 18 people, all men, while one female police officer will join the station soon. Her jurisdiction extends for 23 kilometres and varies in width from 10 feet to 160 feet along the railway tracks from the Lahore Railway Station to the Wahga border. In her jurisdiction, are the Lahore Railway Station, the Mughalpura Railway Station, the Herbencepura Railway Station, and the Wahga Border point station.

“I want all rail passengers and those who are on the railway premises to keep one thing in mind that all sorts of crime can happen anywhere,” she says.

Her duties include crime control, investigation of cases, and supervision of security duties. In her tenure, so far no crime has occurred, but she has to be extra vigilant for crime control.

“Last Sunday, I was with my family when I received a call that some people posing theft threats are roaming in a railway colony. I left home for the potential crime scene and secured the area. The group of loafers left the area upon seeing us.”

The nature of her job is to be on alert 24 hours seven days a week. The department and rules do not provide any special favours to any official for their gender status.

“I feel okay with the rules; I feel happy when I see my male counterparts feel challenged due to my presence in their ranks. This keeps me motivated to outperform them. I feel they also have similar feelings. At the end of the day, we all work to make train operations smooth and secure and for passengers, a comfortable, pleasant journey.”

The railway police also seek passengers’ cooperation during the journey.

“We need to keep in mind that despite strict enforcement of Standard Operating Procedures, something goes wrong because of derailment or passengers’ health conditions.”

She advises the passengers to always plan their rail journey on a seat secured through the railway booking system. The railway booking system saves the credentials of passengers. In case of any eventuality, their family can be located without wasting time.

She remembers the case of a woman passenger who died at the Lahore Railway Station because of cardiac arrest.

“The woman got off the train and soon collapsed. She asked a porter to bring her water and soon, she was no more. She did not have her identity card on her. We, however, traced her whereabouts through mobile phone data, but it took us good three days to complete the task.”

In case of no clue to the identity of a deceased or injured passenger, the department sends a fingerprint to Nadra and ascertains the identity. But the task is tedious.

Being a railway cop, she has been doing tedious tasks, and one such is travelling with foreign passengers. She often mans the special trains for Sikh pilgrims from Lahore to Nankana Sahib and onward journey to Narowal and Hassan Abdal. She does not remember any eventuality in which she had to treat foreign passengers.

“Given terrorism threats, I have to be extra vigilant during such special assignments,” she says.

What are her career goals?

“Well, right now the force is in high morale due to the actions taken by incumbent IG Railways and his predecessor. Mr Shahkar improved our allowances and elevated us to other forces, such as the provincial police and FIA, while Rao sahib is taking measures to digitize the department,” she says.

In recent months, the department has taken manifold advancement towards technology and merit-based postings of promotions of staff took place, says a spokesperson for the railway police.

“The railway police have recently introduced an e-police post app to verify the criminal record data of any passenger travelling via train. It is an unprecedented move on part of the railway police that a modern app is launched. Recommendations have also been sent to the Ministry of Railways to install video recording devices on the front side of trains for better security of passengers. In this regard, the department recommended four cameras with one recorder in each coach to the ministry for the installation in locomotives.”

Also the railway police, to digitise its police stations, are soon going to roll out Police Station Record Management System and the Criminal Record Management System.

“I’m excited to work in a digital technology-powered force,” says Nausheen.