Malala Yousufzai; the inspiration

Naseema Parveen

Malala Yousufzai, a resident of Mingora, main city of the swat valley, was targeted by the Taliban because she tried her level best to bring to light their evil deeds. She is, arguably, the bravest young girl of Pakistan, who at the age of 14 years, has emerged as a source of aspiration across the world. Malala and her family stood their grounds even when the whole city fell to Taliban. She is the first youngest girls to raise voice against Taliban.

A glance at the past reveals that around five hundred schools of girls were blown during the last five years. The ordinary citizens could not dare to do something about this for obvious reasons. In that environment of fear, Malala’s writings on BBC appeared as a voice against oppression and coercion. The seventh-grader shook the world by vividly describing details of the day-to-day life. The writings not only won fame for Malala, but also conveyed to the world the situation on ground. BBC worldhttp://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/7834402.stm

She became an easy target for the Taliban, who threated her of dire consequences in March, referring to her activism. Some people argue that Malala’s family is faced with threats because of her father’s involvement in anti-Taliban advocacy and peace-building groups.

Ultimately, she was attacked and injured. The Taliban claimed responsibility and vowed to “kill her if she survived”. This did not go very well with the people of Pakistan. Million stood up against the brutality and condemned the Taliban as “cowards”.

Due to the bad health condition after the attack, she was shifted to Peshawar for urgent treatment and after later flown to the UK, where is now being said to be out of danger.

The prayers of millions of people around the world, including school children, seem to have worked for Malala, in addition to the timely availability of high quality medical help.

It is an open fact that up till hundreds of people were being killed by suicide bombers in markets, mosques and during funeral prayers in the tribal areas and hundreds of the girls’ schools were being blown up with impunity. My question is, were the authorities and the government along with the media not familiar with this situation?

 In my opinion, they all knew about the brutal acts of the Taliban in the area. The local people were trying to highlight the issue but their voices were not getting the attention they deserved, neither from the authorities, nor from the media.

The other day I was watching “faisla awan ka” hosted by Asma Sherazi on Dawn News, where a person said, “ab waqt aa chuka hy ki awam faisla kary ki unhain Taliban ka sath dain ki nhe” (The time has come for people to decide if they want to support Taliban”. I was shocked to see that they were discussing such an unambiguous choice, as if it is a matter of debate. I replied, to myself, “yai waqt to bhot phley achuka tha tb tou sub sorahy thy” (the time for decision had come long ago, but most were sleeping then). When the Taliban stepped up against our beloved land, we chose to stay mum and numb.

Until the right time comes, that is when there will be the right people in command of this country, we can only pray for the peace and prosperity of the country, and protection of the inspirational people like Malala Yousufzai, the people who try their best to remove the darkness, by spreading the light of education and love.

I salute you Malala for your bravery and courage.

The contributor is a student at Quaid-e-Azam University, Islamabad.