Malala Yousufzai’s birthday (July 12) was declared Malala Day by the United Nations.
In October 2012, when a lone gunman shot a teenage girl in the head in Pakistan’s Swat valley, he couldn’t in his wildest imagination have known that the life he meant to snuff out would come back to haunt him — and those who had sent him on his mission — in perpetuity. The point they wanted to make by killing her has backfired. The girl defied death and defied them a second time.
In the history of a nation where so many believe so much to be wrong but never have the courage, motivation or desire to speak up, Malala Yousufzai has written a glorious chapter with her steely will, grit and determination. In 2009, Mulla (‘Radio’) Fazalullah and his band of murderous marauders were allowed to establish sway over the Swat valley, and enforce their brand of obscurantist Islam to spread darkness in a region where education has traditionally been cherished.
In addition to a reign of terror defined by public beheadings and hangings in the main chowk in Mingora, women were ordered not to step out of the house without a mehram (male chaperone). All men were advised to grow beards. Swat residents say an environment of such great fear was created that people felt uncomfortable confiding even in close friends.
It was against this backdrop the Taliban decreed female education un-Islamic. They must have thought their brutality was so overwhel-ming that nobody would dare defy them. They were mostly right, save for the 12-year-old Malala who had other priorities. The passion that burned within her for an education for herself and other girls in her area surfaced in the form of a blog on BBCUrdu.com where she wrote under the nom de plume Gul Makai. Her blogs offered a poignant depiction of life in Swat. Surrounded by the unchallenged Taliban, who had usurped all established authority and were well-funded through a levy imposed on the multi-billion rupee logging industry in the area, Malala’s defiance must rank among history’s bravest acts. Her words, her eloquence, in full display on the BBC blog, is perhaps the most fitting tribute to her. No wonder she became an international celebrity, a symbol of defiance to the Taliban and a role model for school-going girls countrywide. She represented a sty in the eye of the Taliban. Three years after she became well known, they tried to kill her.
Malala’s single-minded pursuit of education risked her life and the lives of near and dear ones, forcing her family to leave Swat ahead of the military cleansing operation of 2009. But once the military had broken the stranglehold of Mulla Fazlullah and his faction of the Tehrik-e-Taliban (TTP), they promptly returned. It is also a tribute to her parents that they have supported her through thick and thin when more well-off parents in more secure environments would have backed down in the face of the relentless pressure of the TTP. This isn’t a surprise because her father is an educationist well known for his efforts for girls’ education.
As Pakistan faces an existentialist threat, the lack of consensus in society on the fundamentals is alarming, to say the least. There are those who condemned the attack on the Swat girl unequivocally. Then there are those who regard her as a victim but say the attack was part of a grand foreign conspiracy to manipulate public opinion in Pakistan. And then there are those who dispute the fact that she’d been shot in the head. The tide of bile directed against the innocent girl and her family, was staggering.
So, where are we now? Has this teenager’s heroic battle for the cause of education made a difference to attitudes in Pakistan? Political parties seem relieved she was airlifted abroad and they don’t have to deal with her every day. President Asif Ali Zardari may have visited her in the UK hospital, but has the education budget been increased, leave aside the allocation for girls’ education?
Moreover, there are reports in the media that at least one other girl from Malala’s school, who was injured alongside her, is relocating with her family — so overwhelming is the sense of insecurity despite heavy military presence in Swat. All this, as we wait for a political consensus to crush militancy and terror in Pakistan.
Therefore, Malala Yousufzai, and Karachi teenager Mehzar Zehra (shot dead by sectarian militants on November 30 last year while on her way to school) and numerous others like them countrywide, whose aspiration is simply to educate themselves in an environment free of discrimination, fear, intimidation, and intolerance, are still being let down. When Malala was attacked, the initial outrage was so potent, it triggered hope for change. A couple of months down the line, while the international community continues to fete her, most of Pakistan seems to have moved on.
However, each publicised event to honour her will be a reminder of how this teenage girl confronted the Taliban when many others chose to capitulate. This will be her real legacy. As will be the determined faces of thousands of schoolgirls she inspired after the attack, who pledged to continue their education, no matter the price. There cannot be a worthier personality of the year. May Malala regain her smile and smile forever. She represents the most beautiful response, and a potent symbol of opposition, to the toxic ideology of the Taliban.
(Abbas Nasir is former editor of Dawn. Excerpted and abridged from the Herald Beta, Karachi)