A gruesome terrorist attack in Pahalgam on April 22, 2025, targeting innocent Indian tourists on the basis of their religion, shook the soul of India. One Nepali citizen was also killed in this attack. In a cold and calculated manner, two of the terrorists had earlier mingled with the tourists and herded them towards two other armed terrorists. 25 tourists were first segregated and then killed. One Kashmiri pony operator was also killed in the attack.
Protests across J&K and other parts of India demonstrated the anguish felt by the people of India. Amongst measures taken by the Government of India was the decision to hold the Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance.
On May 7, the Indian Armed Forces launched ‘Operation Sindoor’. They hit nine sites with terrorist infrastructure in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir, from where terrorist attacks against India have been planned and directed. A statement by the government said that the actions were ‘focussed, measured and non-escalatory’ and demonstrated considerable restraint in the selection of targets and methods of execution.
It was during the briefings on ‘Operation Sindoor’ that India played its master stroke in soft power projection. Flanking the Foreign Secretary, Vikram Misri, were two smart and confident lady officers from the armed forces. Colonel Sofiya Qureshi and Wing Commander Vyomika Singh represented the face of the Indian armed forces through the Operation.
Notwithstanding some ensuing controversy, the sight of these two inspiring women officers added to the sense of pride that ordinary Indian citizens felt for their men and women in uniform. It was a powerful message to India’s enemies that India’s women represent Nari Shakti and should not be seen as helpless appendages of their spouses.
Col Sofiya Qureshi has an exceptional background. She earned the distinction of being the first woman to lead an Indian Army training contingent at Force 18, a multinational field exercise involving ASEAN Plus countries, being the only female commander among all participating nations.
She was also a part of Indian peacekeeping operations in the Congo. She represents the third generation in her family to serve in the armed forces. Her father and grandfather served in the Indian Army, while her great-grandmother was in the British Army and later participated in the 1857 freedom struggle.
Watching Col Sofiya Qureshi in her crisp army uniform, confidently briefing the nation about ‘Operation Sindoor’, my thoughts went to women across the border in Pakistan. While searching for a house in Islamabad, when we had recently arrived on our posting there, we went to the house of a wealthy Balochi family in Islamabad to see the house which they wanted to rent out.
After we had spent a few moments with the male members of the family, I was taken to the courtyard at the back of the house. There I met the two women of the household. They seemed privileged enough to have travelled to Islamabad but had been living within the four walls of their house. Their shopping, even for personal items, was brought home to them.
The lives of many women in Pakistan, especially in Balochistan and NWFP, were confined to the ‘chadar and chardiwari’, where the proper place for a woman was behind a veil and within the confines of the boundaries of her house. “What a contrast from India’s Col Sofiya Qureshi,” I thought to myself, as I heard about how she had distinguished herself in peacekeeping operations and in the Indian Army!
Baloch educationist Samia Naz estimated that female literacy in rural Balochistan was as low as 2 per cent. Analysts have written that the per capita ratio of female education in Balochistan is the lowest globally, while the female mortality rate was the highest in the world. Honour killings, acid attacks, maternal mortality, and illiteracy were the lot of women in Pakistan’s largest province!
Patriarchy is strong in Pakistani society, leading to an imbalance in gender power relations. The seclusion and segregation of women confine them to the household, thereby isolating them. This leaves little or no room for access to the wider society and denies them the opportunity to play any role outside the home.
During my stay in Islamabad, Pakistan’s penal code recognised the Islamic practices of Qisas (equal retribution) and Diyat (monetary compensation to kin of victims), under which the Pakistani state did not press charges even for heinous crimes like murder if the next of kin of the victim accepted restitution or granted forgiveness to the culprit.
Much has been written in Pakistan about the misuse of this practice. In an article in the Pakistani newspaper ‘Dawn’ on May 5, 2023, on the infamous ‘Qisas & Diyat Laws’, Nikhat Sattar wrote, “In case after case of murder and severe bodily harm to innocent people, the perpetrators are often given a clean chit by Pakistan’s courts. The accused, even more emboldened, returns to society with no remorse. Many are legislators— elected by the very same people they harmed.”
Even as scores of Muslim women in Pakistan became victims of ‘honour killing’ or ‘honour revenge’, the position of minority women seemed much worse. Girls as young as twelve to eighteen years of age from the Hindu, Christian and Sikh communities could be kidnapped, raped, forcibly converted to Islam and married to Muslim men, with almost no justice available to the victims or their families.
The problem for women was compounded by the Hudood Ordinances, a series of discriminatory laws that were introduced as a part of the process of Islamisation by Zia-ul-Haq. Promulgated in 1979, the Hudood Ordinances equated rape with adultery and provided that a woman’s testimony was not admitted to prove rape or adultery.
Women in India continue to face multiple challenges. Col Sofiya Qureshi and Wing Commander Vyomika Singh demonstrated that the Indian woman is making inroads even in areas that used to be male domains. There are role models galore in almost every field for young girls in India. Campaigns such as Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao are aimed at encouraging female education. It is time that Pakistan diverts its energies in a positive direction and focuses on the welfare of its citizens, especially women.
Ruchi Ghanashyam is former high commissioner to the UK and author of Indian Woman in Islamabad (1997-2000).
