Pakistan, a country where a few Hindus co-exist with the majority-Muslim population, has appointed its first Hindu woman, Manisha Ropeta, as the Deputy Superintendent of Police (DSP) in Sindh.
Ropeta has not only broken the patriarchal barrier of Pakistan but has also turned heads for becoming the first Hindu woman to be appointed in an authoritative position at the age of 26.
She was appointed to the top-position in 2022 in the province of Sindh. After she was designated as the DSP, Ropeta said, “From childhood, my sisters and I have seen the same old system of patriarchy where girls are told if they want to get educated and work it can only be as teachers or doctors.”
Manisha Ropeta hails from a middle-class family settled in Sindh’s Jacobabad. Her motto is to end the belief that girls and women should not dream of getting employed in the police force or district courts.
She said, “Women are the most oppressed and the target of many crimes in our society and I joined the police because I feel we need ‘protector’ women in our society.”
Ropeta’s father was a trader in Jacobabad. Following his death, her mother brought the children to Karachi.
She has four siblings – three sisters and one brother – all of whom are in medicine. For Manisha Ropeta, the door to become a doctor closed when she failed the MBBS entrance examinations by just a mark.
“I then told my family I was taking a degree in physical therapy but at the same time I prepared for the Sindh Public Services Commission examinations and I passed that getting 16th position among 468 candidates,” she said.
On her journey to become Pakistan’s first female Hindu DSP, Ropeta admits that while it was not easy to bag the job, her seniors and colleagues treated her with respect and supported her throughout.