Pakistani Female's Journey to flying for a US Airline.

[Basel]

Thats model.

I think Israel does have few beautiful female pilots. Am I correct??

 

[razgriz19]

She is a mechanic!

 

[jamahir]

"An Air Force Officer who does not stand equal opportunity to make a General, not because she is not good enough, but because she is a woman." my reason for discharge from PAF.

well, i am disappointed with the opposition she is receiving in this thread.

she is ambitious, independent and therefore disappointed with the promotion procedure in paf and with her general feeling about certain things in pakistan... pakistan isn't some socialist paradise, yes??

please give her some kindness and understanding.

 

[Hyperion]

If she's entitled to her comments, so is everyone else entitled to shred her comments and her personality apart. In my opinion, she's fair game. Nough said....... let's continue with some slave-bashing....... better yet, @Windjammer, drop her a line if you have her contact info, and let's see if she can defend her exaggerations....

Btw, many of us have served the motherland....... faced all sorts of odds...... what she said, boils my blood.......

Bhai meray, you need to calm down. She is entitled to her opinion. She did serve the PAF and Pakisatn for 6 years. I don't feel, being a moderator, it's your job to take sides and pass on judgement. You ought to stay neutral. Secondly, those women are from medical Corps. Do you have an example from any other branches of the army?

Regards

Obviouslyyyyyyyy......... you love all desh-drohi's......... after all, it's not an Indian defector, then you'd be out for her head!

well, i am disappointed with the opposition she is receiving in this thread.

 

[jamahir]

after all, it's not an Indian defector, then you'd be out for her head!

i am socialist, not the most fanatic defender of the indian political nation... so how do you mean??

Btw, many of us have served the motherland....... faced all sorts of odds...... what she said, boils my blood.......

i agree that she should have joined a progressive political group ( socialists ) and fought on the streets and in the media rather than run away.

she should have used her looks and position to convince people of change... i am sure she would have great measure of success to some distance... but she lost nerve.

 

[Pardesi]

ExpressJet First Officer Fatima Shafi broke gender barriers in the Pakistan Air Force, and now she’s received the 2015 Delta Air Lines Boeing 757-767 Type Rating Scholarship. Fatima is setting the pace for women in aviation.

 

[razgriz19]

WRONG! Check my post #40 with a link to her background. She was never a combat pilot nor ever flew an F-16.

Also see @Windjammer's post #47 and @DESERT FIGHTER post #54.

she was a director of maintenance for F-16 squadron, once the aircraft goes through a major check, maintenance personnel can hop along for a test flight. This is what she did, she is the first female to FLY ON F-16 IN PAF.

Pleased to know that she has left the country and living the American dream.
PAF certainly have no place for thankless people like her.

did you even read the article, she was forced to leave her position as a DoM by her commanding officer.
PAF is the "thankless" one here.

 

[waz]

well, i am disappointed with the opposition she is receiving in this thread.

she is ambitious, independent and therefore disappointed with the promotion procedure in paf and with her general feeling about certain things in pakistan... pakistan isn't some socialist paradise, yes??

please give her some kindness and understanding.

Jamhir jee, the opposition is only in part, that's due to her comments. I acknowledged her ambition clearly.
No one claimed Pakistan is a socialist paradise, but in order to change it you need to do so from within. Guevara didn't fight it from abroad, from the comfort of his arm chair, under those "free skies" she talks of.
Anyway you said it best here.

i agree that she should have joined a progressive political group ( socialists ) and fought on the streets and in the media rather than run away.

she should have used her looks and position to convince people of change... i am sure she would have great measure of success to some distance... but she lost nerve.

 

[Kabira]

Dear Fatima if you are reading this then let me tell you, you have average look (which does not mean ugly). Do not take tharkis in this thread seriously, especially Indian who suggested you to take up bollywood role. So you can say more bs about Pakistan while being in India.

 

[Hell hound]

yar look at those sidewinder there fins look bended rusted and trackers are decoloured badly.my fear is that they might no perform at their 100% we might need to replace them with new batch

 

[TankMan]

@waz You are a hundred percent right. That part about not having a mobile phone in Pakistan was especially disappointing, as it was a blatant lie - criticism is understandable, blatant lies are not.

A lot more of her story is doubtful, more than that profile statement.

In her hometown of Islamabad, Pakistan, Fatima’s life was a rigid set of rules designed to make her a worthy wife for a waiting husband. Many little girls grow up eagerly anticipating the day of their wedding, butin Pakistan, girls are told that getting married will be the greatest thing they will ever do. But Fatima’s father was ill and her family was too preoccupied to find her a husband, so they sent her to school instead.''
“Where I’m from, education for girls is a pastime, not a necessity. You only went to school so your mind wouldn’t wander. Your brain needed to be occupied until it was time for you to get married

She apparently said that at the Nobel Ceremony, where she also met Malala
Our Amazing Women with First Officer Fatima Shafi | ExpressJet Airlines

That's a strange statement considering that she's from Islamabad, which has an 88% literacy rate. That statistic is from 1998. It couldn't have been much worse, even if we are to say she's talking about the 80s.

Despite limitations set by her gender, she graduated as an Electronics Engineer at the University of Engineering and Technology in Lahore, a school that had over 6,000 students – only 50 of whom were girls.

That's mostly because women themselves, generally, prefer other fields and not engineering and thus prefer not to go to an engineering university. Right now, the statistics are a lot different:
University of Engineering and Technology(UET)Lahore
Almost 2000 female students.

One of the worst parts:

“It’s an incredible thing to walk around freely and look where ever I want. Nobody judges me here. I wish I can explain the feeling I get when I walk on a street, and I know people around me are not thinking that I’m doing something wrong. I could never have that in Pakistan.

The mobile phone part, well - Telecommunications in Pakistan - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
For someone who can read and has a few hundred rupees, getting a phone wouldn't be hard at all. And there are no restrictions for females, they can register SIMs etc without any problem.

Looks like the typical 'make the situation sound worse than it really is so that people think you're a big hero for surviving all that' tactic.

 

[syedali73]

Well good for her and she has done well herself.
I'm not going to praise her for being some sort of super patriot, or someone who is more deserving of our praise than the many pilots who put their lives at risk, in order to defend the skies of Pakistan.
I have to say I am disappointed by her remarks on her profile.



Summary
When you are young, you think you can change the world but as the reality of life, old traditions and shackles of culture come stand as obstacles in your face you realize, may be not! By no means I am trying to state that I did not have the strength and the determination to over come those traditions and break the shackles, but what was next?

"An Air Force Officer who does not stand equal opportunity to make a General, not because she is not good enough, but because she is a woman." my reason for discharge from PAF.

I have a lot of courage, but may be not enough to invest 20 some prime years of my life to wait and see if I could change the way people think in Pakistan.

So 6 years ago, with 2 suit cases, I showed up in VeroBeach, Florida at 10pm, to find myself at a deserted gas station and the only passenger getting off the Grey Hound bus. It was a moment out of the movies, I had no cell phone, did not know anybody, didn't know where I was, didn't have coins to use the public phone and didn't have any phone numbers for a cab service, and english was broken too on top of the culture shock I was in!!

Two hours, multiple phonecalls to cab companies and one 911 call later, I was on my way to FlightSafety to become a pilot.

The little things in life that we never give too much importance to, carry of lot meaning and value, like being able to breathe in free air and not have a feeling of being watched and harassed all the time, like having a cell phone to call a cab or like having a friend or family member around in the country you live in as your support group. I learnt the value of these little things when I came to USA.

The opportunity of becoming an Aviator, that I was looking for in my own country, in many unsaid words was denied to me, but I got that opportunity in USA and thats why now I call it home. Where I can not only pursue my career but can do it freely, which is what matters the most to me.

Thank you USA for letting me break free of the shackles!!

Free air?
Not having a cell phone?
Shackles?

Oh dear.


These are my heros......

When asked about settling abroad due to the discrimination the Christian community faced,he replied he would die in his fatherland.

MM Alam.

Engaged in charity work and helping his country out.

If you leave, fine, that's not the issue. But don't bash the very zameen that gave you opportunities.

Only if she had moral courage to say she left PAF for a better future abroad. Seeing her posing with Malala already raised red flags and now this. Alhamdulillah she is no longer with PAF.

 

[Winchester]

That's mostly because women themselves, generally, prefer other fields and not engineering and thus prefer not to go to an engineering university. Right now, the statistics are a lot different:
University of Engineering and Technology(UET)Lahore
Almost 2000 female students.

Yup normally in Engineering the ratio is about 40:8

Interesting that the degree because of which she is able to have a career is heavily subsidized by the average Pakistani Tax payer
I mean the expenses in U.E.T is peanuts compared to other Engineering universities

 

[TankMan]

Only if she had moral courage to say she left PAF for a better future abroad. Seeing her posing with Malala already raised red flags and now this. Alhamdulillah she is no longer with PAF.

The story behind her posing with Malala is interesting:

In 2014, Pakistani teenager Malala Yousafzai won the Nobel Peace Prize for her fight to guarantee all young people in Pakistan the right to an education. Former Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani wanted a successful Pakistani woman to be part of the delegation when Malala received the award and felt Fatima would be a perfect fit. She was honored.

 

[Thorough Pro]

did you try to find out why? There are many other females working in PAF, PA, and PN who were/are not forced to leave the institution. she must have been kicked out for some good reason. there is a proper protocol to expel anyone from armed forces.

If there was something wrong with the PAF, should would never have made to that position to start with.

she was forced to leave her position as a DoM by her commanding officer.
PAF is the "thankless" one here.