Pakistan’s first Christian woman brigadier general: A welcome discourse change

On June 2, Dr. Helen Mary Roberts of the Pakistan Army Medical Corps was promoted to the rank of Brig. General. Roberts’ promotion makes her the first Christian woman to be promoted to the rank of Brig. Gen. in Pakistan’s history. Previously in 2020, Major General Nigar Johar had made history by becoming the first woman in Pakistani history to be promoted to the rank of Lt. General. Like Lt. General Johar, General Roberts’ prominence makes her an important role model for Pakistan’s young women.

The promotion is doubly important because it comes at a time when the position of Pakistani Christians within society remains as precarious as ever. From forced conversions to blasphemy allegations and mob violence, the news is packed with shameful reports of society at large’s treatment of its Christian minorities.

Pakistani Christian girls in particular have long been subject to forced conversions where they are abducted from their homes or schools and then forced into Muslim marriages. A few weeks prior to Roberts’ promotion, a court in Pattoki annulled a forced marriage between a seventeen-year-old Christian girl and a Muslim man who had abducted and forcefully married her.

In many cases, where Christian or Hindu girls are abducted, they are never recovered until they already have children and have been estranged from their families for years. In addition, most Christian families do not have the means or the wherewithal to file a case in court that could free their child from a coerced marriage.

The welcome news of a Pakistani Christian woman rising through the ranks to become one of the most powerful women in the country is cause for some celebration.

Rafia Zakaria

If Pakistani Christian girls are in danger of abduction, Pakistani Christian men face the threat of blasphemy allegations and mob violence. The same week in May that Brig. Roberts was being promoted, trouble flared up in the city of Sargodha when a mob formed outside a shoe factory owned by an old Christian man named Nazir Masih and beat him up after making blasphemy allegations against him. He succumbed to his injuries some days later. The police charged 44 named people and 450 unnamed people on charges of instigating mob violence.

In this dangerous milieu where abductions and mob violence are regular dangers confronted by minorities in the country, powerful institutions like the Pakistan Army might have the power to change the discourse around equality and tolerance. It is also notable that the Pakistani military’s own fight against religious extremism and terror groups is geared toward eliminating the same kinds of forces that instigate intolerance and violence against minorities. The young soldiers of the Pakistan Army who have died fighting against various militant groups wreaking havoc in the country are up against the same forces that are terrorizing Pakistan’s minorities.

Promotions in the military cannot wipe away the deep seated religious intolerance that two decades of war against religious extremism have embedded in this society. But role models like Brig. Roberts are a crucial part of the storytelling to inspire young Pakistani Christians to believe that they are equal citizens of this country. In a discourse that has been dominated by abductions and mob violence, the welcome news of a Pakistani Christian woman rising through the ranks to become one of the most powerful women in the country is cause for some celebration.

While promotions do not eliminate the egregious problems of Pakistan’s minorities, one hopes it might motivate other institutions in the country to make similar merit-based decisions. Women like Brig. Roberts have overcome not only the limitations imposed by gender in Pakistan but also those that come from belonging to a religious minority group in this country. The Pakistan that lauds and promotes women like her is the Pakistan that we should all celebrate and be proud of. As she begins her tenure, one hopes she can blaze a path forward for countless more Pakistani Christian girls to follow in her illustrious footsteps.

- Rafia Zakaria is the author of “The Upstairs Wife: An Intimate History of Pakistan” and “Veil.” She writes regularly for The Guardian, the Boston Review, the New Republic, the New York Times Book Review and many other publications.