Women and minorities

Women and minorities

Women have served in the Pakistan Army since its foundation. Currently, there is a sizeable number of Women serving in the army. Most women are recruited in the regular Army to perform medical and educational work. There is also a Women's Guard section of Pakistan's National Guard where women are trained in nursing, welfare and clerical work and there are also women recruited in very limited numbers for the Janbaz Force. Only recently has Pakistan began to recruit women for combat positions and the Elite Anti-Terrorist Force In 2007, several female graduates were nominated to be Sky Marshals for Pakistan based airlines. In addition recently eight of the 41 cadets from the Pakistan Military Academy at Kakul became the first women guards of honour. Pakistan is the only country in the Islamic world to have female Major Generals in the Army.
Recruitment is nationwide and the army attempts to maintain an ethnic balance but most enlisted recruits, as in British times, come from a few districts in northern Punjab Province and the adjacent Azad Jammu and Kashmir and the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Pakistan's Officer Corps are also mostly from Punjab,Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and of middle-class, rural backgrounds.
Minorities in Pakistan are allowed to sit in all examinations, including the one conducted by Inter Services Selection Board however the proportion of religious minorities in the Pakistan Army is still considerably less.
There have been numerous Christians who have risen to the rank of Brigadier; and in the 1990 the first Christian promoted to the rank of Maj. General was Julian Peters who commanded the 14th Div in Okara Cantt. In 2009 brigadier Noel Israel, was also promoted to rank of Major General.
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