RAWALPINDI, Feb 1: A meeting of the Selection Board for promotion of brigadiers to the rank of Majors-General for the year 2002 was held at the General Headquarters here on Friday.

President and Chief of Army Staff Gen Pervez Musharraf presided over the meeting.

Out of approximately 1100 officers granted commission in the Army in year 1972 only 132 (12.6 per cent) made it to the rank of brigadier after qualifying stringent promotion criterion comprising various courses and promotion examinations.

The board considered these 132 brigadiers and recommended 27 officers (2.4 per cent) fit for the promotion to the rank of Majors-General.

Ms Shahida Malik of the Army Medical Corps became the first woman medical officer to rise to the rank of Major-General in the history of Pakistan Army. The names of the officers and the Arms and Services they represent are as follows:

Brig Sikandar Afzal, Armoured Crops; Brig Ijaz Ahmed Bakshi, Artillery; Brig Muhammad Yousaf, Artillery; Brig Syed Absar Hussain, Artillery; Brig Muhammad Jawed, Artillery; Brig Jamil Haider, Artillery; Brig Syed Khalid Amir Jaffery, Artillery; Brig Nusrat Naeem, Artillery; Brig Muhammad Ashraf Saleem, Army Air Defence; Brig Muhammad Saleem, Army Air Defence; Brig Shahid Niaz, Engineers; Brig Muhammad Asghar, Engineers; Brig Muhammad Waheed Akhtar Malik, Signals; Brig Mir Haider Ali Khan, Infantry; Brig Khalid Shamim Wynne, Infantry; Brig Javed Zia, Infantry; Brig Shujat Zamir Dar, Infantry; Brig Muhammad Tariq Masood, Infantry; Brig Mohsin Kamal, Infantry; Brig Nadeem Taj, Infantry; Brig Asif Akhtar, Infantry; Brig Muhammad Hameed Ud Din, Army Service Corps; Brig Ghulam Haider, Ordnance; Brig Khalid Mushtaq, Corps of Electrical and Mechanical Engineering; Brig Mrs Shahida Malik, Army Medical Corps; Brig Masood Anwar, Army Medical Corps; and Brig Mushtaq Ahmad Baig, Army Medical Crops.—APP