EDITORIAL - Maligning Malala

Since the day she was shot at and injured, till she won the Nobel Prize (to be the youngest one) and she returned to her homeland after five years, Malala Yousafzai, our pride, has been put on trial. Not by a court, but the trolls on social media and some in mainstream media. They accuse her of faking shooting and setting up a plan to settle in Europe and defaming Pakistan. These are the crimes which Malala never committed but trolls are hell-bent on proving everything they have imagined. They hate Malala and they want her never to return to Pakistan. Can they silence her?

Taliban believe that Malala is the agent of western lobby defaming tribal traditions of Swat. Taliban believe in the power of gun and bloodshed. Most of them are stationed in cave towns or hiding in mountains. Shockingly, there has emerged a breed of urban Taliban who is at the forefront of a hate campaign against Malala. This factor sends chills down every Pakistani’s spine. The government must take notice of a self-styled president of the All Pakistan Private Schools Federation who is out with his hate campaign against Malala. Though he does not hold guns, he is lethal in terms of mongering hate about Malala and the girls education. He has launched a movement “I am not Malala” in his schools. Under the campaign, teachers and children shout slogans ‘I am not Malala’ and teachers tell children that Afia Siddiqui, a Pakistan-American scientist convicted of terror charges in the US, is their real hero. Teachers have been told to wear black armbands to protest the brief return to the country – after five long years – of the world’s youngest Nobel Laureate. Earlier in 2015, the APPSF had also published a book to rebut her memoirs.

The hate campaign against her reminds us of the case of another Pakistan’s renowned physicist and Nobel laureate Dr Abdus Salam for his sectarian belief. He is hated for his being an Ahmadi. Pakistanis forget that the honour he earned for Pakistan, in fact, made Pakistan proud in the international community. Dr Salam was not only hounded in his lifetime but even after his death, his achievements are not acknowledged. His desire to establish a top-notch scientific institute in Pakistan remained unfulfilled.

The world has acknowledged the services of Malala for girls education. She has done much for the cause not only in Pakistan but also in Syria, Yemen and other countries. She has even dedicated her Noble prize cash for the girls education. It is the time Malala should be supported for her cause. We are waiting for the time she returns to Pakistan and serves the country by promoting the girls education.