Quetta’s Madam City
Staff Reporter
Sobia Khan is now famous for madam city in Quetta. She is the first female traffic police sergeant deployed at the city’s main Serena chowk. “Women can perform better in police”, she said while gesticulating her hands to ensure the flow of traffic. Major reason behind her deployment as the first female traffic sergeant is the increasing number of women drivers. “The number of women drivers increased in Quetta”, she said. It is very difficult for male traffic sergeants to deal with women drivers, she said.
Despite social, tribal taboos, she stepped forward
Despite all socio-tribal odds, she stepped forward to get a job in the police department. “My aim is to implement the law”, she said. During our interaction, the city’s first female sergeant was keenly checking all vehicles entering the city. In the morning, she comes to her duty on time, Amjad, a traffic officer remarked. The officer spoke very high of her professionalism.
During 2009, she qualified assistant sub-inspector police examination from Balochistan Public Service Commission (BPSC). The BPSC conducted a competitive examination to recruit officers in the police department. She got her basic education from Quetta. She got a master’s degree in political science from the University of Balochistan.
Sobia Khan fined three women for violating traffic rules on the first day
Earlier, women used to complain that traffic men misbehaved with them, now I am here to deal with them, Sobia Khan pointed out. “Now they (women) have no excuse”, she stated. On the first day of her duty as a traffic police sergeant, Sobia Khan fined three women for violating the traffic rules.
In law enforcement agencies, women rarely come forward to serve the masses. Sobia Khan, Ayesha Zehri, the Assistant Commissioner Mastung, Nida Kazmi, and some other women are an exception in a strictly-veiled society. “I am comfortable with my job”, she said. Sobia Khan has served in Khuzdar one of the remote-areas of Balochistan in the police department. She has been to the United States for training recently.
Quetta’s Madam City
Sobia Khan is considered to be an active traffic sergeant in Quetta city. Her active role as a traffic sergeant has prompted the people to call her “Madam City”. Quetta city is facing the worst traffic jam. Keeping a smooth flow of traffic is likely to be a major challenge for her.
