Major General Nigar Johar has been promoted to the rank of Lieutenant-General. She is the first female army officer promoted to the rank of Lieutenant-General. She has also been appointed as the first female General Surgeon of Pakistan. Lt. Gen Nigar Gohar is currently serving at the Commandant Military Hospital, Rawalpindi.
The Inter-Services Public Relations informed about her promotion in a statement released on Tuesday. According to ISPR, she is the first female Lieutenant general of the Pakistan Army. She hails from the PanjPir area of Swabi district in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
Major General Nigar Johar, HI (M) promoted as Lieutenant General.
She is the 1st female officer to be promoted as Lieutenant General. The officer has been appointed as 1st female Surgeon General of Pak Army. Lieutenant General Nigar Johar hails from Panjpeer, District Swabi KPK. pic.twitter.com/ytw8YvSz76— DG ISPR (@OfficialDGISPR) June 30, 2020
Nigar Johar ascends to the post of Lieutenant General
Lt Gen Nigar Johar is the niece of the Major (R) Mohammad Amir who is a retired army officer from Pakistan’s intelligence agency, ISI. Her father, Colonel Qadir, also served ISI. Her parents died in a road accident 30 years ago.
Johar is only the third woman in the history of Pakistan Army to have reached the rank of major general. She belongs to the Army Medical Corps. The other two major generals, Shahida Badsha and Shahida Malik also belong to the Army Medical Corps.
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In 2015, she was featured in an Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) video honoring women in the Pakistan armed forces. At the time, she was the deputy commandant of Combined Military Hospital (CMH), Rawalpindi. In the video, she says, “Pakistan is my country and I was born here. I was raised here and I think there is no match to Pakistan to anywhere in the world,” while adding, “Think of all the Muslim countries, think of all those developing nations. This is the only country that has had female general officers. No one else,” she added.
Background of Nigar Johar
She joined the Army Medical College in 1981 graduating in 1985. She is from the 5th MBBS course of Army Medical College. Nigar Johar served as the female company commander of Ayesha company at the same college. In 2010 she completed the examination for membership of the College of Physicians and Surgeons Pakistan. In 2012 she completed her diploma in Advance Medical Administration through the Armed Forces Post Graduate Medical Institute in 2015. She completed a Master of Public Health degree from the same institute.
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Now, she has been promoted to Lieutenant General rank on June 30. On 9 Feb 2017, Johar was among the 37 brigadiers who were promoted to the rank of major general. Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa presided the meeting of the Army Selection Board that approved her promotion. Nigar Johar has also served as Vice-Principal of Army Medical College. Moreover, Johar has also served as the commandant of Pak-Emirates Military Hospital, Rawalpindi.
Many political leaders have taken to Twitter to congratulate the newly appointed Lieutenant-General. This includes PPP leader Sherry Rehman and PML-N leaders Shehbaz Sharif and Ahsan Iqbal.