While terming her as a role model for all girls aiming to achieve excellence in apparently challenging fields of life, Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK) President Sardar Masood Khan on Saturday showered praise on Maryam Mujtaba, a resident of Muzaffarabad, on becoming the first female commercial pilot from the liberated territory.
The president extended felicitations to Ms Mujtaba after she called on him at the Aiwan-i-Sadr along with her spouse Mujtaba Rathore Aga, deputy superintendent of the AJK police.
Born to a family of Kashmiri migrants from Shopian in occupied Kashmir and settled in Muzaffarabad and Rawalpindi, Ms Mujtaba obtained her commercial pilot licence (CPL) after undergoing initial aviation training in Rawalpindi and later in New Jersey-based flight academy, Century Air.
Recently, the PIA promoted her as ‘first officer’ on Airbus-320 after she completed the requisite flying hours on domestic routes on an ATR.Ms Mujtaba has also been designated by the Special Communications Organisation (SCO), a subsidiary of the Pakistan army running telecom network in AJK and Gilgit-Baltistan, as its brand ambassador.
The AJK president said her success would embolden many more Kashmiri women to seek employment in this field.
“You have inspired and encouraged a number of women in the liberated territory to consider aviation as a promising career,” he remarked.
He said in spite of the prevailing crisis in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, the aviation industry was bound to rise again and provide livelihood to tens of hundreds of skilled persons, including women.
Ms Mujtaba told the president that flying was her dream since childhood and “PIA had given her wings to translate it into reality.”
Shukriya Khanum, who was the first Pakistani woman to obtain a commercial pilot's licence, has died of cancer in Lahore at the age of 82.
She qualified as a pilot in 1959, straight after graduating from the city's Government College. However, it took 30 years before another woman followed in her footsteps.
When Shukriya Khanum joined the country's sole airline, Pakistan International Airlines, female pilots were not permitted to fly commercial planes.
She therefore accepted the job of flight instructor at PIA's training centre, where she taught young cadets. She also took flying enthusiasts on joy rides at Karachi Flying Club.
But in the late 1970s, after the military government of General Zia ul-Haq took over and martial law was imposed, Pakistan became more conservative.
Renowned TV anchor Dr Shahid Masood, who Shukriya Khanum's nephew, recalls his aunt telling him that General Zia "could not digest the idea of a woman flying with a man together in the cockpit".
"He objected to that and Shukriya was barred from flying with men and restricted to work as a ground instructor."
Shukriya Khanum was rather flabbergasted by this, he said.
"I remember my aunt saying: 'I work with these men. Some of them are my students, others are colleagues and I spend a lot of time with them, so what is wrong in flying together? And there are stewardesses on board as well, so are they going to stop them too?'"
Shehnaz Leghari from Multan also qualified for commercial pilot in1988.She was a sister of political activist Muhammad Salim Leghari.Shahnaz Laghari (شہناز لغاری) is the first Pakistani Hijabi female pilot who flew aircraft wearing the hijab. For this achievement her name was listed in the Guinness Book of World Records. She is also a good social worker in her community, and running few training centers to empower the women in the society.Captain Pilot Shahnaz Laghari made the nation proud by becoming Pakistan’s 1st pilot to fly a plane in a veil. .
Two other women, Ayesha Rabia and Maliha Sami, faced similar restrictions after taking the PIA pilot test in 1980.
But after General Zia died in 1989, PIA called them and invited to attend formal pilot training.
"For nine years I waited, because rules did not allow women to fly," Ms Rabia told the BBC.
Maliha Sami
In 1990, Maliha Sami made history by becoming Pakistan’s first female pilot of PIA aircraft. She was the first women pilot to captain Airbus A310 and Airbus A300. Sami was also the first lady ever to drive a Fokker plane from Karachi to Gwadar via Panjgur and Turbat.
Ms Sami flew her first flight as first officer in 1990, the day before Ms Rabia flew her first.
In 2005, Ms Rabia became the first female Pakistani captain of a commercial scheduled flight. A year later, she flew the first Pakistani flight with an all-female crew.Captain Ayesha Rabia received her commercial pilot license when she was just 17 years old. She joined PIA as a cadet pilot in 1989. Ayesha has served in PIA for 15 years and has flown the Airbus 300 as well as Boeing 747. In 2006, she made a record of being the first Pakistani female pilot to captain an all-women crew plane from Islamabad to Lahore, with 40 passengers on board.
Maryam Masood & Erum Masood
The pilot sisters, Maryam Masood and Erum Masood were recently in the news for flying PIA’s Boeing-777 aircraft to local and international destinations simultaneously. This ground-breaking feat by the Masood ladies made them the first sister pair to captain the same weight category aircraft concurrently.
Ayesha Farooq
Pakistan’s only female war-ready fighter pilot is the 27-year-old, Ayesha Farooq. She took part in the mission Zarb-e-Azab and bombed Taliban hideouts in North Waziristan. The selfless hero of the nation is a role model for millions of girls today.
Marium Mukhtar
After Ayesha Farooq, Marium Mukhtar was the nation’s rising fighter pilot, ready for combat. However, she embraced martyrdom during an operational training mission when the PAF trainer jet crashed near Kundian, Mianwali.
Saba Khan, Nadia Gul, Mariam Khalil, And Saira Batool
Sharista Baig
The stunning female pilot, Sharista Baig is the first proud GD fighter pilot hailing from Gilgit-Baltistan.She is the Pakistan's first proud GD fighter pilot./She joined Pakistan Air Force, as an aviation cadet. She is the daughter of Col. Mehmud Beg.
Aimen Amir
Aimen Amir is the first Pakistani female pilot from Skardu, Gilgit-Baltistan to obtain a license for flying private jets, at the age of 20. She is the first woman from Skardu and third from Gilgit-Baltistan to get a flying license.
