Dr Helen Mary Roberts has been promoted to the rank of brigadier in the Pakistan Army Medical Corps, making her the first female brigadier to hail from the country’s Christian community.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, in a post on X, congratulated Brigadier Roberts on her promotion, saying, “Brigadier Helen Mary Roberts is the first female Brigadier from a minority community in Pakistan, the entire nation, including me, congratulates her.”

Brigadier Roberts has served as a pathologist in the Pakistan Army Medical Corps for 26 years.

APP news agency quoted the Inter Services Public Relations (ISPR) as saying that Colonel Dr Helen Mary Robert was “another living example of merit and national representation” in the Pakistan Army.

Before Brigadier Roberts, Maj Gen Nigar Johar had broken gender barriers in June 2020 by becoming the country’s first female officer to be promoted to the rank of lieutenant general.

According to a statement from then-ISPR Director General Maj Gen Babar Iftikhar, the officer was also appointed as the first female surgeon general of the Pakistan Army.