The recent murder of teenager Sana Yousaf has once again forced our nation to confront a harrowing truth: punitive justice alone cannot dismantle the deeply rooted misogyny that breeds violence against women. Despite the high-profile Supreme Court ruling that upheld the death sentence for Zahir Jaffer—the convicted killer of Noor Muqaddam—women in Pakistan continue to be targeted for simply asserting autonomy over their lives, bodies, and choices.
The killings of Noor and Sana, though different in detail, share a chilling commonality: both were murdered for rejecting men who believed they had a right to claim them. These acts of fatal entitlement are not aberrations—they are part of a pattern fueled by a patriarchal mindset that views women as possessions rather than individuals. It is this mindset, this cultural sickness, that must be addressed if we are to break the cycle of gender-based violence.
The public outrage that follows such tragedies is often fleeting. The hashtags fade, the protests wane, and the system returns to its status quo. Meanwhile, women continue to live in fear, scrutinized for every expression of individuality. In Sana Yousaf’s case, what is equally disturbing is the posthumous vilification she has endured online.
Faceless trolls have celebrated her death, framing it as a ‘cleansing’ of social media—a grotesque reflection of a society that simultaneously consumes women’s content and condemns them for creating it.
How did we arrive at a point where a young girl can be celebrated for her creativity one moment and murdered for it the next? The answer lies not in the legal system alone but in the very fabric of our upbringing, media discourse, and social structures. Boys are seldom taught to accept rejection. Masculinity is often tied to control and dominance, and girls are raised to tread carefully, to appease, to endure.
If we are to prevent another Noor, another Sana, we must look beyond courtrooms and jails. We must begin at home, in schools, in places of worship, and in digital spaces—instilling respect, empathy, and accountability in the next generation. We must educate our youth about consent, equality, and emotional maturity. We must train our media to be responsible and respectful, and hold platforms accountable for hosting hate speech disguised as opinion.
This is not about condemning all men—it is about challenging a system that empowers the worst among them. Until we address that system, women in Pakistan will remain vulnerable—not because they are weak, but because society chooses to remain silent.
Tackling the Roots of Violence Against Women
