By Adil Najam
It has been a tradition for as long as I can recall that on the 25th of December a contingent of cadets from the Pakistan Military Academy (PMA), Kakul, takes over as the ceremonial honor guards at the mausoleum of the Quaid, Muhammad Ali Jinnah. This year, Jinnah’s 130th birth anniversary, was special because the PMA honor guard contingent included eight female cadets and one Sikh cadet.
The two pictures here are from Dawn and Daily Times. Indicative of the importance is the fact that the two newspapers use the titles ‘Winds of Change’ and ‘New Beginning’ to headline the pictures, respectively.
According to an Associated Press report in the Daily Times (27 December, 2006):
Eight female cadets from the Pakistan Army’s elite training academy on Monday became the first female honour guards at the mausoleum of Pakistan’s founder, Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah. State-run television showed the female contingent, clad in khaki cadet slacks, some wielding swords and others holding guns, marching to military tunes with their male colleagues in a ceremony at the mausoleum of Mr Jinnah, the Father of the Nation, in Karachi. In November, for the first time in the history of Pakistan, the Pakistan Military Academy Kakul opened its doors to women. In March, women also broke into the all-male air force when it inducted four women pilots.
Forty-one females joined the army academy to undergo a rigorous six months of military training along with men before being inducted as officers in various branches of the army. President Gen Pervez Musharraf, who attended ceremonies in Karachi marking the 130th birthday of Mr Jinnah, laid flowers at the mausoleum and praised the female cadets who are to graduate next April. “I am really impressed by the girls,� Musharraf said. “This is the future of Pakistan.� Previously, women had only served in the army’s medical corps without being trained at the academy. But the 41 female cadets at PMA will join the army as non-combat officers in the communication, engineering, legal and education branches.
Comments on this issue have already been flowing elsewhere on ATP but I thought these pictures were worth sharing and highlighting here. Readers would remember that earlier this year Aviation Cadet Saira Amin had won the coveted Sword of Honour for best all-round performance at the Air Force Academy in Risalpur and became the first woman pilot to have won the Sword of Honour in any defense academy of Pakistan. I should confess that a few days ago when I had contemplated naming an ‘ATP Pakistani of the Year’ she was one of the people I thought would make a great candidate as a symbol of women breaking into traditionally male-dominated professions.
Also, yes, sure, we had the first muslim female prime minister, and now we have female cadets but the life of the average pakistani woman, mostly in rural areas, is getting more and more difficult. It is good to see some women doing wonderful, but to me real progress would be when status & living conditions of majority of the women improves.
Salams. I found this blog quite interesting and would want to add a few words here on female cadets.
Living in Pakistan, I do not feel at all excited with this news. But is this supposed to achieve? I, as a woman, do not feel that going through rugged physical training like men, or carrying swords or guns represents gender equality or emancipation. But rather being appreciated as a woman and still considered equal for all fundamental rights is true gender equality. If one gender has to compromise on being themselves and be like the other in order to get noticed or appreciated, then how are two genders being treated equal!
Interesting comments by wussatullah; (http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/urdu/2006/12/post_113. html)
I still don’t see why some people are against this move…
Pakistan’s first law minister was a Hindu… And even Classical Muslim Empires have traditionally had Non-Muslims in high positions of power…
The Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb Alamgir, widely known to be a conservative Muslim ruler, had as his Army Chief, a Hindu. Infact Shivaji- Aurangzeb’s enemy and the widely hailed Indian national hero (irony)- tried lure Aurangzeb’s army chief on the pretext of Hindu solidarity unsuccessfully… One of Mahmud Ghaznavi’s (yes the “Idol-Breaker”) generals and later the governor of Lahore after Ayyaz was Tunku a very conservative Hindu. Ghaznavi’s army had many Hindus and he even built them a Temple in Ghazni. Tipu Sultan’s tolerance and benevolence is well known.
Can any body tell me that what is the significance of lady army officer become gurad at Quaide-e-Azam Mazar?
How the Pakistan can “change” after this “Revolutionary” step?
What message & to whom it was conveyed?
After lady guards the future of Pakistan become safe?
The women of Pakistan will get all rights?
I fail to understand how this event make me ‘Proud’ & in which sense it is brilliant?
Do the people have read the situation (abuse) of women in US army, Pls read
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2006/08/19/national /main1913849.shtml
http://newstandardnews.net/content/?action=show_it em&itemid=549
http://dir.salon.com/story/mwt/feature/2004/05/18/ military_assault/index.html
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2004/jun2004/mili-j10 .shtml