And here's something from the cultural twilight zone.
Tucson, Arizona Friday, 12 July 2002
Female Afghan cop has a gun, a thick skin and an attitude
The Associated Press
By Adam Brown
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
KANDAHAR, Afghanistan - She limps along Kandahar's dusty streets in a beggar's ragged burqa, peering at the produce stands like any housewife.
But her all-encompassing garment hides something strange for a woman in this male-ruled society - a gun.
Capt. Malali Kakar heads Kandahar's two-member female police department - a crucial, if long-neglected, job in a culture that strictly separates men from women.
Kakar and her unarmed junior officer act as undercover cops, family counselors, arresting officers, interviewers and, sometimes, sympathetic ears for offenders and victims alike.
Male officers are not allowed to question female suspects, take statements from female victims or even see a woman's uncovered face. They cannot touch a woman to arrest her - even if they see her committing a crime. All those tasks must be performed by female officers.
"I am the only woman in Kandahar with a gun," said the gruff, wiry Kakar, relaxing in her office in a green uniform that reveals her head - a rarity in this strict Muslim city. "No man can do my job."
In a city of 500,000, that's hard work. "I have two eyes in the front of my head and two eyes in the back," she said. "I need them all."
An antiquated radio sits on Kakar's desk, and her burqa is piled on a chair within easy reach if she gets a call to raid a home with women present or to arrest a woman suspect.
Under the Taliban regime that fell last year amid a U.S.-led assault, women were forbidden to work or study. The Taliban, who began their rise to power in Kandahar in 1994, fired the few female police officers, including Kakar.
In January, Kakar's department was revived to arrest female petty thieves, question female witnesses and take statements from female victims.
Kakar said she has never encountered violence on the job but is prepared.
"If somebody attacks me - even a man - I am ready," she said. "I will kick his butt."
Two policewomen for a city the size of Kandahar are woefully inadequate. But budget constraints ensure they will get no help soon.
They have no writing paper, no phone or radio at home, no camera and no equipment for fingerprinting. Kakar has no car; like most Afghan women, she doesn't know how to drive.
Kakar earns the equivalent of $72 a month - the same as male officers. She maintained other officers in Kandahar treat her "like a man."
A senior officer, however, said privately that Kakar was simply being stoic. "They are really ugly with her," he said. |
