I felt really proud of my country and Pakistan Army when almost all the newspapers of Pakistan carried news under the caption, ‘History Made: Lady Officers of Pakistan Army Go Air Borne’, our ladies anywhere, in any field bring laurels to our country. But due to my unfulfilled childhood dream of becoming a fighter pilot (as I was not selected due to weak vision), I follow almost all the news related to lady pilots of PAF. May it be news regarding graduation of first batch of four lady pilots, para-jump of PAF lady cadets, Para jumps of female cadets or first combat ready pilot of Pakistan, my passion forces me to follow all news.
I remembered the glimpses of news that the history of para jumping by females was already written by some female Cadets of PAF, and it took me a while to Google this, that on April 14, 2006 two lady cadets of PAF successfully completed their para-jumping training and made history for Pakistan. This news was not only carried by all leading Pakistani news papers but to my utter surprise this news article was available on some Indian news websites as well. So to set the records right I think this must be realised that history of para jumping in Pakistan was already written long ago by PAF Lady Cadets.
It’s always good to improve the records but those who made the records earlier cannot be forgotten or ignored. So indeed it’s a proud moment that female officers of Pak Army have rewritten the history, which was earlier written by two female cadets of PAF Bismah Nasim and Fatima Khalil and they will always be remembered as first ever paratroopers in the history of Pakistan.
ROMEENA KHAN,
Karachi, July 22.