Pakistan gets its first woman cabbie

It hasn't been a smooth drive for Pakistan's first woman cabbie, but Zahida Kazmi is happy to have made a dent in a male-dominated profession. Kazmi took up taxi driving following her husband's death in 1992, when she had to take on the responsibility of single-handedly raising six children.

Kazmi, who was then 33 years old, persevered despite many problems, and has since made her mark on the butter-smooth roads of the federal capital and in the hilly terrains of northern Pakistan in two decades of driving her cab.

Her decision to start driving a cab did not go down well with her conservative and patriarchal family. She took  advantage of a government scheme under which anybody could buy a brand new taxi in affordable installments.

She bought herself a yellow cab and drove to Islamabad airport every morning to pick up passengers.

Kazmi has come a long way since. She has traded her 'hijab' for a 'chador' and does not carry a gun for protection anymore. "I realised that I would scare passengers away. So then I only wore a hijab (head covering). Eventually I stopped covering my head because I got older and was well established by then," Kazmi told BBC.

Passengers feel secure with her in the driver's seat. "I saw her and the first thought that came to my mind was that she's my mother's age. I liked her driving and in these days where one feels insecure in Pakistan, I felt very relaxed," said Adnan Waseem, a passenger who always books Kazmi for his long journeys.

Kazmi never seems to stop surprising police at check posts. Though she has been feted for being Pakistan's first woman taxi driver, she still has many bitter memories of her struggles as a single mother working hard on the road. She is estranged from her children now. "I am old now and I get tired. It's hard for me to drive all the time but what can I do? My sons don't help," she said.

Kazmi also became chairperson of Pakistan's yellow cab association and offered to teach young women to drive taxis but there was little interest. Even her daughters did not express enthusiasm. "They don't need to make a living. They are all married," she said.