At a revolutionary school in Pakistan, Durkhanay Banuri dreams of becoming military chief, once a mission impossible for girls in a patriarchal country where the powerful army has a severe problem with gender equity. Thirteen-year-old Durkhanay, a student at Pakistan's first ever Girls' Cadet College, established earlier this year as she sketches out her life plan.
"I want to be the army chief," she tells AFP. "Why not? When a woman can be prime minister, foreign minister and governor of the State Bank, she can also be chief of the army staff ... I will make it possible and you will see." The dreams of many women in the region were once limited to merely leaving the house.
Durkhanay and her 70 classmates in Mardan, are aiming much higher. Cadet colleges in Pakistan, which are run by the government with officers from the military's education branch, strive to prepare bright male students for the armed forces and civil services.
Their graduates are usually given preference for selection to the army, which in Pakistan can mean their future is secured: they are likely to be granted land and will benefit from the best resources and training in the country. As a result such colleges play an outsized role in Pakistan's education system, which has been woefully underfunded for decades.
According to a 2016 government study, a staggering 24 million Pakistani children are out of school, with a larger share of girls staying home than boys - 12.8 million compared to 11.2 million. Hundreds of boys study at the cadet colleges across the country. But girls are still not allowed in these elite schools, with the special college at Mardan the one exception. "Such colleges can help girls qualify to be part of the armed forces, foreign service, civil services or become engineers and doctors," said retired Brigadier Naureen Satti, underscoring their importance in the long fight for equality by Pakistan's women.
In starched khaki uniforms and red berets Durkhanay and her classmates march the parade ground, stepping to the beat of a barking drill instructor, before racing to change into physical training and martial arts kits. The military is widely seen as Pakistan's most powerful institution, and has ruled the country for roughly half of its 70-year history. Under the current civilian government it is believed to control defence and foreign policy.
Women, however, have largely been shut out - par for the course in a country routinely ranked among the world's most misogynistic, and where they have fought for their rights for decades. Previously they were only allowed to serve in administrative posts. But military dictator Pervez Musharraf opened up the combat branches of the army, navy and air force to women beginning in 2003. The Girls' Cadet College principal, retired brigadier Javid Sarwar, vowed his students would be prepared for whatever they wanted to do, "including the armed forces".
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