Islamabad-Inspector General of Police (IGP) Islamabad Qazi Jamil Ur Rehman said the rate of domestic violence against women and children is decreasing after the General Protection Unit (GPU) was made active by Islamabad police.
He said that GPU is also fully supporting gender-based violence resulting in a significant decline in incidents of harassment.
“Domestic violence has serious impacts on women’s health and well-being,” he added.
The capital police chief expressed these views while addressing GPU Round Table Conference held here on Tuesday to review the monthly performance of GPU as well as its helpline 8090.
Speaking on the occasion, IGP Islamabad Qazi Jamil Ur Rehman said domestic violence is a burden on numerous sectors of the social system and quietly, yet dramatically, affects the development of a nation. He said domestic violence is a global issue reaching across national boundaries as well as socio-economic, cultural, racial and class distinction. He said domestic violence is wide-spread, deeply ingrained and has serious impacts on women’s health and well-being.
He said Islamabad police has activated its Gender Protection Unit to lessen the miseries of victims of domestic violence. He said staff deputed at GPU had been playing a crucial role in helping the victims of gender-based violence. There has been a significant reduction in harassment incidents which can be analysed from the fact that 86 per cent of the applicants expressed satisfaction over the performance of police. He said that police have also launched the Gender Protection Unit and Helpline 8090 in order to provide prompt relief to the victims of gender-based violence. For immediate response, along with trained female police personnel at the desk, psychiatric and medical staff are also available for the affected women. The main objective of the Gender Protection Unit is to protect the affected women and children of the society while restoring confidence in the police, he said.
The participants of the conference while appreciating its performance came up with suggestions to make the unit more effective.
ICCI President Sardar Yasir Ilyas and other participants while appreciating the performance of the newly established Gender Protection Unit of Islamabad Police expressed their satisfaction. He said police have been introducing new services to facilitate the citizens which is commendatory. The establishment of the Gender Protection Unit will boost confidence in working women of the society and will feel protective regarding their rights. More, they said that we will provide full support to assess Islamabad police whenever need is required, he said.
Earlier, ASP Amna Baig briefed capital police chief Qazi Jamil Ur Rehman about the performance of the Gender Protection Unit. She said during the last one month, 77 applications were submitted by women through the helpline 8090 while a total of 131 complaints of various types, including 65 through phone calls were received.
The complaints included 51 cases of domestic violence, three cases of sexual harassment and abuse, 11 cases of harassment, nine cases of various threatening calls, and 28 cases were related to neighbours.
Action was taken on all the complaints, six cases were registered in which five persons were arrested, and 46 complaints were resolved, while 43 pending applications are being processed. Similarly, 10 women received guidance through the helpline, she added.