Kashmir gets its first Muslim woman pilot

Iram Habib is the first Kashmiri Muslim woman to become a pilot. Photo: Times of India

SRINAGAR: Iram Habib has become the first Kashmiri Muslim woman to become a pilot.

Habib has become the second woman pilot after Tanvi Raina, a Kashmiri Pandit, who joined Air India as the first female pilot from the occupied valley in 2016.

Habib will be joining a private airline as a commercial pilot from this month.

According to the Times of India, Habib’s father is a supplier of surgical instruments.

Becoming a pilot was Habib’s childhood ambition and she gave up a short-term goal of getting a doctorate degree in forestry to become a pilot.

The 30-year-old is currently taking classes in Delhi to get a commercial pilot license.

Speaking to TOI, Habib said, she completed her basic training from Miami in the US in 2016.

"Everyone was surprised to find that I am a Kashmiri Muslim doing flying but I went ahead to achieve my goal,” she said.