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Many people adviced me to go for commercial flying when they realized that I am so much passionate about Pakistan Air Force but here I want to make this thing clear.....My passion is to serve my country and since I am interested in fighter flying , I want to serve as the "Sky Defender Of Pakistan"....I love my country v.much and willing to render all my srevices to this greatest nation. InshaAllah, I'll try my best to serve Pakistan as effeciently as I can.
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MY PASSION FOR PAF
I don't like being called a tomboy because I am proud to be a girl - a passionate girl indeed! I always justify passion as a strong indulgence in one's desire, one's own achievable host of imaginations. Passion is that valuable abstract commodity which can even make a person move mountains for the accomplishment of her dreams. I have a firm belief in the old saying 'where there is a will, there is a way!'
Upto grade VII, I thought I was going to be a doctor since my parents expected that of me. But I was never really interested in medicine. I was and still am passionate about flying - fighter flying.
"How can you be a fighter pilot? There are no girls in the PAF," someone told me.
"So what? I can be the first female fighter pilot in Pakistan," I would say.
Everyone laughed and made fun of me. "The girls will ruin our air force." People tried to de-moralize me.
But my passion for flying combined with my great patriotism kept my dream of joining the PAF alive. I searched for evidence to prove that women can be fighter pilots. I surfed the Internet, read books and consulted my teachers to finally reach the conclusion that women are capable of being fighter pilots. Equally important, women have the right to serve their country by getting intothe army as Islam doesn't forbid women to fight on a battle field.
So, I resolved to fight for my rights. At that time I was only 14 years of age and I didn't know what to do, how to initiate the struggle to achieve my rights. The only idea that came to my mind then was to clinch the top position in the SSC (Secondary School Certificate) exams. I studied really hard. Meanwhile, I had a wonderful dream related to my obsession. I wanted to document my dream so I began work on a novel after my grade IX exams.
I found myself close to my destiny when I got 92% marks in grade IX. I studied even harder in grade X to get the 1st position in the Karachi board. But unfortunately, I couldn't achieve that. Still I managed to be included in the scholarship holders in the SSC board.
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In 1999, at the age of fifteen, I started writing letters to newspapers. I got several letters published too. I also tried to express my point of view through the Internet so I e-mailed my articles to many Pakistani sites.
Then came the time when I had to make a decision between pre-medical and pre-engineering in Intermediate. My parents insisted that I go for pre-medical. But taking medicine meant an end to my endeavours. The eligibility for the GD(P) course in PAF was Intermediate in pre-medical or pre-engineering and for Aeronautical Engineering, Intermediate in pre-engineering was necessary. I decided to opt for pre-engineering so that I could at least be an aeronautical engineer if not a fighter pilot.
While in college, I kept on writing articles thinking that through this process I would achieve my goals. At the same time, I also created a site on the Net which was about my passion for the PAF. I got much positive response through this site as many people supported and encouraged me.
Eventually, as I started my second year of pre-engineering I realized that something else had to be done because writing articles didn't seem enough. Besides, after my Intermediate I had to make a choice of professional college and so I had to do something very fast so that I could apply for PAF after Intermediate. At the same time, I finished my novel which I had been writing for around two and a half years.
I decided to contact government officials and NGOs. I also e-mailed many women organizations of Pakistan, including IOPWE (International Organization of Pakistani Women Engineers). The president of IOPWE, Risa Altaf, agreed to help me in my endeavours.
In January 2001, I contacted the Minister for women development, Dr Attiya Inayatullah. She replied positively and wrote to the Air Chief Marshal (ACM) Mushaf Ali Mir on my behalf. I thought I was getting somewhere but after a month, when the ACM replied I was really disheartened. I was informed that the induction of girls in the flying branch of PAF was not possible for the time being as per policy. Though, I was happy to learn that the PAF had started recruiting girls in the ground branches, the flying and aeronautical engineering branches were still closed to women. I had to stop my endeavours for some time due to my second year exams but I started my efforts again as soon as my exams were over.
However, things got tougher for me at this stage. The admission to professional colleges in Karachi had started and I didn't know what to do. I decided to shift my interest to aeronautical engineering and tried applying to NUST (National University of Science and Technology) for aeronautical engineering but they were not inducting girls in this field. I got extremely angry and became more determined to achieve my right.
I came to know that the College of Aeronautical Engineering (CAE) at PAF Academy, Risalpur, is actually one of the campuses of NUST and students are inducted there as cadets. When I e-mailed to the administration of NUST, I was told that it doesn't induct girls due to lack of a female hostel. After some research, I came to know that even for the male cadets there is no separate hostel in the CAE and they share the rooms with the GD(p) cadets (fighter pilots). This was the basic fact I used to present in my letters to the government officials.
In October 2001, I contacted the Sindh Education Minister, Prof Anita Ghulam Ali. At the same time I also contacted NGORC, PAWLA and other organizations which responded positively and gave me full support.
I wrote to the Air Chief Marshal Mushaf Ali Mir in October 2001 but was once again told that PAF had no plans to induct girls in the CAE.
I met Prof Anita Ghulam Ali in November 2001. She was extremely supportive and tried to revive my spirits and gave me much hope. She contacted the Vice Chancellor of NED University of Engineering and Technology for his opinion and he was also on our side. So, Prof Anita Ghulam Ali wrote to President General Pervez Musharaf in early December 2001 on my behalf. I was thrilled to receive his reply through his Chief Secretary's letter that the matter had been taken up by the concerned ministry and I would be apprised of its outcome in due course.
In December 2001, Ms Zofeen T. Ebrahim from NGORC wrote an article about me in Dawn. This article really helped in encouraging me and highlighting the issue.
Since admissions to professional colleges had started, I took admission in NED in BE (computer science) since I had no alternative.
I tried to speed up the process to pressurize the government and in particular, PAF. I tried to contact people like Aasma Jahangir, who was completely on my side and willing to help me. Then, I tried to contact other ministers like the ministry of Education, Human Rights etc.
In January 2002, I randomly mailed letters to many of the government officials like Governor of Sind, Mian Mohammad Soomro, Barrister Shahida Jamil, and Begum General Pervez Musharaf.
In March 2002, I wrote to the Air Chief Marshal again and this time when I got the reply, I just couldn't believe my eyes. I was just staring at my computer screen and reading the sentence again and again. It said, "we congratulate you that PAF has ultimately decided to induct females in the flying and CAE branches." However, it was mentioned that the date for the next course hadn't been finalized and as soon as it would be decided the ads would be released in the leading newspapers.
Finally on March 31, 2002, as I turned over the first page of the classified section of Dawn, a scream of excitement and utter joy came out as I read "EQUAL OPPORTUNITIES FOR MALES AND FEMALES IN PAF" in both the flying as well as CAE branch.
I am thankful to Almighty Allah for keeping me strong and determined and showing me the right path; and secondly to all the people without whose help I could not have achieved my goal.I have realized that once a person resolves to achieve what he wants and if he has steadfast faith in Allah, the society can not web hindrances in your way. Because you know you are right and under the obligation to open the way for the approaching generation. Many people advised me to opt for commercial flying but I always had to make myself clear that I had a passion for Pakistan and aviation and so I can only fulfill my desire by being a sky defender for Pakistan. Insha Allah, I will try my best to render all my services to Pakistan and won't let Pakistan down from my side.
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The above article was published in the Dawn magazine, Young World on 25th May 2002
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