Thirty-year-old Iram Habib has become the first Kashmiri Muslim woman to become a pilot. Habib will join a private airline next month.
Iram succeeds Tanvi Raina, a Kashmiri Pandit, who joined Air India as the Valley¡¯s first woman pilot in 2016.
In April last year, 21-year-old Ayesha Aziz, also from Kashmir, became India¡¯s youngest student pilot. Iram¡¯s road to becoming a pilot was never easy since it passed through the conservative Kashmiri Muslim society.
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Her father is a supplier of surgical equipment to government hospitals. In her pursuit, Iram even gave up her dream of achieving a doctorate in forestry to give wings to her childhood ambition.
Iram, who is presently taking classes in Delhi to get a commercial pilot license, told TOI that she completed her 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.