Malala: An icon of courage and hope

Malala: An icon of courage and hope

October 10: Since yesterday I am angry, full of hatred against the Taliban and the Pakistani establishment, of course, depressed with a sense of helplessness since I heard the news about the terrorist attack on Malala Yousufzai, the courageous daughter of Swat, who used her pen to expose the atrocities of Taliban during their control in the valley. She along with other girl students of her father’s school was shot at in Mangora by terrorists when they were going to their school. Taliban have accepted responsibility for the attack. These evil agents of darkness and enemies of humanity as well as girls' education, the Taliban have tried to silence one frail girl but with a bold voice. Their nefarious designs seem successful with this attack as the girl has received serious wounds. All this is happening in Swat with state support and patronage. Despite the presence of the Army in the valley with barricades on every nook and corner, the terrorists escaped safely without any trace. Everyone is condemning, even the apologist political leaders like Munawar Hassan of Jamat Islami, Maulana Fazl Rehman of JUI and Imran Khan of Pakistan Tahrik-e-Insaf who always supported the Taliban. These pro-Taliban politicians have never uttered a word to condemn their terrorism but this time social media pressure forces them to condemn this ugly act of terrorism.  

Everyone is sad. I have a special intimacy with her because I closely remained in her company on two occasions early this year in Karachi. When Malala came to Karachi to attend a morning show on a TV channel after she received the award from the Prime Minister following her nomination for an international award, she and her father stayed in our office’s hostel. Although they were guests of the TV channel, she and her father had accepted our hospitality to stay in our hostel. During their stay, we arranged a special get-together with her on January 4, 2012, in the office. Many of our colleagues did not know much about her, but some including me knew that she had written diaries for BBC Urdu during the reign of terrorism unleashed by the Taliban in the entire Swat Valley. She got fame suddenly through the media when an international children's advocacy group KidsRights Foundation nominated her for the International Children's Peace Prize, making her the first Pakistani girl nominated for the award for her courageous writings. At our request, she read out a page of the published diary on the occasion. We asked a lot of questions about her life, the situation in Swat during and after the Taliban and of course about her school, which is being run by her father for the girls and she was still a student there. After the function, each one of us wanted to have pictures with her.

Again she came the next month when the Sindh government announced a cash award for her and named a government school in Karachi after her name. She was in Karachi to unveil the plaque of her school, which is located at Burns Road. This time our Executive Director Karamat Ali asked us to arrange a talk on Malala for the kids of the flood-affected families, who are living in the Labour Square complex near our office.

It was Sunday, February 5, 2012, when about 100 students and their teachers gathered at PILER Centre to listen to Malala. Those flood-affected children, most of them studying in the primary school of the labour square camp, were informed about Malala’s achievement and her courage. But when she gave a motivating speech to the students, many of them might have not understood the Urdu language, but everyone was clapping when she finished her very impressive talk. The 14-year Malala advised the students to acquire education at all costs irrespective of any difficult times. She also asked them to be courageous to ask for their rights. She suggested the students to have a dream for a better life. “This dream should be alive all the time in your head and you should struggle for the fulfilment of that dream.” She asked the downtrodden students to respect their elders and teachers, help others and inculcate good moral habits in them to be good citizens. Malala said she was happy to learn that such a large number of children from flood-affected areas of Sindh are getting a proper education in such difficult conditions. She announced giving Rs. 10,000 to the school.

Later, the children asked questions from Malala, which she answered in a very simple but poised way. During her talk, I was wondering why she was such a confident girl who had witnessed terror and murders in her area, but despite all the atrocities she was very clear in her views and thoughts and her desire for peace was so profound that she has become a messenger for the peace. In all her boldness there was certainly a lot of contribution from her father Ziaur Rehman Yousufzai who remained steadfast behind her. He is the advocate of girls' education in Swat valley, which was the main target of terrorism by the Taliban who had destroyed almost all the state schools in the valley.

I cannot forget the way she was speaking with confidence about peace and her ambition to join politics after completing her education. When one asked if she was afraid of the Taliban, she said as a child she was certainly afraid of them, but she knew they were enemies of humankind and girls' education. They had bombarded the schools and they were threatening those who were sending their girls to schools. She wanted to work for the workers of Swat and she expressed her desire to start an NGO for the rights of women.  

I know it is very difficult to produce girls like Malala with such rare qualities. She is a hope for the nation, which is passing through a difficult time. I salute her and her father Ziaur Rehman, who gave her such confidence and clarity of her purpose and also encouraged her to become a good citizen. I don’t have more words for the little angel and I pray to Almighty Allah to give her life so the spark of hope can become a full-fledged light.