Lieutenant General Nigar Johar Khan is the first and only woman in the history of Pakistan Army to reach the rank of lieutenant-general, and the third to reach the rank of major-general. She belongs to the Pakistan Army Medical Corps and currently serves as the surgeon general of Pakistan Army.
In 2015, she was featured in an Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) video honouring women in the Pakistan Armed Forces. At the time, she was the deputy commandant of the Combined Military Hospital (CMH), Rawalpindi. In the video, she says, Pakistan is my country, I was born here, I was raised here and I think there is no match to Pakistan to anywhere in the world, while adding, Think of all the Muslim countries, think of all those developing nations. This is the only country which has had female general officers. No one else, she added. In October 2021, a telefilm named 'Aik Hai Nigar' was aired, starring Mahira Khan & Bilal Ashraf as lead cast.
Nigar Johar was born in Panjpir village in the Swabi District of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province to a Pashtun family. Her father, Qadir, was an army colonel. Both her parents along with her two younger sisters died in a car accident in 1989. Her husband, Johar, an Engineer in the military, died in 2019 due to cancer.
Nigar Johar completed her schooling through the Presentation Convent Girls High School, Rawalpindi in 1978. She joined the Army Medical College (AMC) in 1981 and graduated in 1985. She is from the 5th MBBS course of the Army Medical College and has served as a female company commander of Ayesha Company at the same college.
In 2010, she completed the examination for membership of the College of Physicians and Surgeons Pakistan. In 2012, Nigar completed her diploma in Advance Medical Administration through the Armed Forces Post Graduate Medical Institute and in 2015 received a Master of Public Health degree from the same institute.
On 30 June 2020 Nigar Johar was promoted to Lieutenant General and appointed as Surgeon General of Pakistan Army. In 2015, she was the deputy commandant of the Combined Military Hospital Rawalpindi. On 9 February 2017, Nigar Johar was among the 37 brigadiers who were promoted to the rank of major general.
Approval for her promotions was given at an Army Selection Board meeting which was presided over by Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa. She served as Vice Principal of Army Medical College. Currently she is Surgeon General of the Pakistan Army. She also served as the commandant of Pak-Emirates Military Hospital, Rawalpindi.
Lt. General Nigar Johar has been decorated with Crescent of Excellence Hilal-e-Imtiaz - Hilal-i-Imtiaz (Military), Medal of Excellence Tamgha-e-Imtiaz - Tamgha-i-Imtiaz (Military) and is also the recipient of Fatima Jinnah Gold Medal for meritorious services in Army Medical Corps from the prime minister of Pakistan.
