There's no point thumping our chests. A poll in 2011 -
here's the link ranked Pakistan as the third most dangerous country for women behind Afghanistan and Congo.
Where was India? Fourth!
We don't want or need the sharia. However good it may be in its intent, unfortunately in today's world it has become a regressive system, subject to interpretation by any random Abdul, Shakeel or Javed who apparently can issue any fatwa they like to any end. What has the sharia done for Pakistan?
As for women in Pakistan having a better time of it than their counterparts in India, the difference in my opinion is in what gets reported and what does not. Pakistan isn't a haven for women, either.
Also India is a society undergoing so many transitions that it will still take time - a long time - to reach that ideal place where women are given the respect they deserve. Men, particularly men who are living in the hierarchical and traditional structures, resent this. But they will have to change, or they will be forced to change. But I see the increasingly confident women around me in India, the executives, businesswomen, bureaucrats - and believe me they are in a much better space than a few decades ago.
Pakistan on the other hand seems to be going through this transition at a slower pace, if at all. The fact that there are journalists like Spring Onion on this website who seem to be good examples of women in the workplace is proof that Pakistan is not mired in the middle ages either. But it seems to me that - given Pakistan's own deeply traditional, clan, religion and agrarian systems- there will as much if not an even greater backlash to modernization. As it is there are stories of women being exchanged as restitution, honour killings etc. So not a lot to write home about.