Helen Mary Roberts becomes first woman brigadier in Pakistan Army from minority community
Islamabad, Jun 2: Dr. Helen Mary Roberts, serving in the Pakistan Army Medical Corps, has made history by becoming the first woman from Christian and minority community to achieve the rank of brigadier in the Muslim-majority country.
Brigadier Helen was among Pakistan Army officers promoted as brigadiers and full colonels by the Selection Board, The News reported on Sunday.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif congratulated Helen on her promotion as Brigadier, saying the whole nation was proud of her and thousands of hardworking women like her from minority communities who are serving the country with distinction.
"I myself and the nation congratulate Brig Helen Mary Roberts on getting the honour of the first female from minority to be promoted as Brigadier in the Pakistan Army,” he said.
Brigadier Dr. Helen is senior pathologist and has been serving in the Pakistan Army for the last 26 years.
During a Christmas celebration at Christ Church in Rawalpindi last year, Pakistan Army chief General Asim Munir had commended the role played by the minority community in the country's development.
According to data released by the Pakistan Bureau of Statistics in 2021, there are 96.47 per cent Muslims in the country, followed by 2.14 per cent Hindus, 1.27 per cent Christians, 0.09 per cent Ahmadi Muslims and 0.02 per cent others.
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Pakistan reports two more polio cases; Total tally now 52
ISLAMABAD: At least two more cases of poliovirus were reported in Pakistan, taking the number of infections to 52 so far this year, a report said on Friday.
“The Regional Reference Laboratory for Polio Eradication at the National Institute of Health has confirmed the detection of two more wild poliovirus type 1 (WPV1) cases in Pakistan," an official statement said.
The fresh infections — a boy and a girl — were reported from the Dera Ismail Khan district of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa province.
“Genetic sequencing of the samples collected from the children is underway," the statement read. Dera Ismail Khan, one of the seven polio-endemic districts of southern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, has reported five polio cases so far this year.
Of the 52 cases in the country this year, 24 are from Balochistan, 13 from Sindh, 13 from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and one each from Punjab and Islamabad.
There is no cure for polio. Only multiple doses of the oral polio vaccine and completion of the routine vaccination schedule for all children under the age of five can keep them protected.
