Chief Traffic Officer Amara Athar has good news for women

Amara Athar, the first woman chief traffic officer of Lahore, has announced good news for women.

After taking over the post, she has asserted that the department’s priority will be to get more girls to ride motorcycles and increase the capacity of women drivers.

Pointing out that traffic jams are a major problem in the city, Athar said that her aim is to improve traffic flow within limited resources.

Who is Amara Athar?

Amara Athar was appointed as the Chief Traffic Officer (CTO) of Lahore by Punjab government on December 12.

The BS-19 police officer is the first woman police officer on central traffic control assignment in the provincial capital and the fourth woman police officer posted in Lahore.

Dawn reports that according to an official, under Punjab Inspector General of Police (IGP) Dr Usman Anwar’s policy, female officers have been prioritised for field assignments to counter the “decades-old tradition of ‘male dominant’ policing in the province”.

An official claims that while there were a number of male contenders for the top position of the Lahore traffic police, the IGP preferred a woman officer, especially after the outstanding performance of another female officer, Aysha Butt, who was posted as Gujranwala CTO who has reportedly bring about significant reforms in a short period since her appointment.

Butt has built Pakistan’s first traffic theme park at Gujranwala with a long walking track that has traffic signs on both sides to create public awareness about traffic rules.