London: Shukriya Khanum, who was the first Pakistani woman to obtain a commercial pilot's licence, has died of cancer in Lahore at the age of 82, reports BBC.
She qualified as a pilot in 1959, straight after graduating from the city's Government College. However, it took 30 years before another woman followed in her footsteps.
When Shukriya Khanum joined the country's sole airline, Pakistan International Airlines, female pilots were not permitted to fly commercial planes.
She therefore accepted the job of flight instructor at PIA's training centre, where she taught young cadets.