DC Edit |Two Women Officers Send Right Message
By naming the military operation as Sindoor, India presented it as a revenge against the killing of 26 innocent people and paid a fitting tribute to the women who lost their spouses in the Pahalgam attack
India's airstrikes against terrorist camps in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir provided a closure for the victims of the dastardly Pahalgam terrorist attack and caught global attention to the rising tensions between two nuclear neighbours. Apart from giving a kinetic response, India has ensured that its reaction to the Pahalgam terrorist attack remains symbolic and reflects its progressive culture.
By naming the military operation as Sindoor, India presented it as a revenge against the killing of 26 innocent people and paid a fitting tribute to the women who lost their spouses in the Pahalgam attack. Contrasting itself with Pakistan, whose birth its Army chief Asim Munir had recently sought to justify recalling Muhammad Ali Jinnah’s long discarded two-nation theory, India fielded two female soldiers, one of them Muslim, to lead its official press briefing on the military operation.
Colonel Sofiya Qureshi and Wing Commander Vyomika Singh’s appearance did deliver a powerful message about women’s power and the secular fabric of the country. Col Qureshi, who is a Muslim from Gujarat, and Wing Commander Vyomika Singh, a Kashmiri Pandit from Jammu and Kashmir, represented minority communities from two states. Both of them are accomplished military officers who broke glass-ceilings in a highly regimented armed forces. Together, they presented a powerful message to the world in contrast to Pakistan where women face severe constraints on achieving their true potential.
The Narendra Modi government has thus delivered a fitting reply to Gen. Munir, who harked back to dark ages based on a theory which proved defunct with the separation of Bangladesh in 1971 instead of taking his near-bankrupt nation on the path of progress. It is high time that the world recognises the real nature of the Pakistan Army which has kept an entire nation hostage to retain its relevance.
