Ayesha Farooq, 26, Pakistan’s only female war-ready fighter pilot, gives the thumb-up sign from the cockpit of a Chinese-made F-7PG fighter jet at Mushaf base in Sargodha

Ayesha Farooq, 26, Pakistan's only female war-ready fighter pilot, gives the thumb-up sign from the cockpit of a Chinese-made F-7PG fighter jet at Mushaf base in Sargodha, north Pakistan June 6, 2013. Farooq, from Punjab province's historic city of Bahawalpur, is one of 19 women who have become pilots in the Pakistan Air Force over the last decade - there are five other female fighter pilots, but they have yet to take the final tests to qualify for combat. A growing number of women have joined Pakistan's defence forces in recent years as attitudes towards women change. Picture taken June 6, 2013. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra (PAKISTAN - Tags: MILITARY SOCIETY TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY)