ISLAMABAD – Rawalpindi city, the pathway of great warriors of ancient times invading India, has now given birth to a woman truck driver who has shattered the patriarchal social order.
The trend of women as a truck driver has started gaining popularity among women of the old garrison city to earn a handsome livelihood for themselves with a new identity.
Dozens of women had started the profession of truck driving in the male-dominated profession, which is very daring and courageous.
Shamim Akhtar, country’s first commercial truck driver said that as she was sole earner of her family and had to face much hardship in her way so she had to be like a man and finally she opted this profession and drive heavy transport vehicle (HVT) to support her family.
“We make our own destinies,” she says. “If I had sat at home, I would’ve had no future. I worked hard to get this far”, she added.
“If I have to change my life, I must begin with myself. I’m not going to accept defeat, I will fight”, and there was no looking back now, she added.
She said that there was no profession in which women were lacking behind, you just need courage and confidence to remove barriers and hurdles from your way to prove yourself.
Adding that from dishwashing to truck driving was a long way for her, at first it was really strange, but afterward, every one start encouraging me, she said.
She said that first, she learned HVT driving from Islamabad Traffic Police (ITP) and then start taking heaving loads off goods and bricks to other cities of the country.
As this is the male dominating profession, but many of my male colleagues boosted my morale at every step to make me fearless, she said.
A lot of women asked me to teach them how to drive a truck, but I said, “I told them that this profession needs courage and confidence”, she further said.
There was no looking back now. She had embarked on a new journey of life. She’d become an entrepreneur.
She further commented that she was an inspiration for other females in this profession, just you need to believe in yourself and you can achieve milestones.
“If you are scared, the fear will lead you nowhere. Today, if you are going to be scared, then tomorrow you will not be able to do anything.” She believes that women are capable of achieving everything”, she further said.
She said that it was imperative to empower women in all sectors of life so that they could be economically independent to make their lives valuable.
