Malala is not a Bhutto, a Sharif, a
Makhdoom or a Khar. She is not an heir to a political legacy. She is also not
the first child to be attacked by the Taliban. Then why is she so relevant? Why
the hue and cry over an attack on her? A cynical group has become active on the
Social Media in Pakistan asking the question “Is Malala the only daughter of
Pakistan?” and “What about showing sympathy of the many children who die
because of Drone attacks?”
The attack on Malala was strongly condemned
by Baan Ki Moon and even Barack Obama, whose own administration admitted to
have caused 60 children casualties during Drone strikes. Just a few hours ago
Madonna revealed Malala’s name stenciled over her back. So why had Malala taken
the centre stage and has been turned into a symbol of resilience and courage?
Were the armed and strong Taliban
really afraid of the ideals of a 14 year old girl as they were of that of
Benazir Bhutto’s?
Both Malala and Benazir were condemned
by the Taliban for being pro west. A friend, however, disagreed with the view
that the Taliban were threatened by a girl and her books. He maintained that
savages need not be scared of someone for them to kill them. It is a good
enough reason for them that the other is person disagrees with their views. To
add weight to his arguments he cited the recent killing of Shia Muslims in
Pakistan by Taliban who being a minority do not pose a threat to the Taliban
but follow a school of thought different from theirs. Perhaps that is true.
Perhaps Taliban were just angry that Malala refused to sit at home and not
attend school when they had occupied Malakand Divison back in 2008.
This appears a very plausible reason
for me as I analyze the situation sitting in Karachi, thousands of kilometers away
from Swat. But was Malala really my role model or did she really matter to the
kids who live in the posh suburbs of Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad and attend
private westernized schools, enjoy the latest movies at the cinemas and shop for
foreign brands at massive malls? The fact that half my friends admitted they
haven’t even heard of Malala before this hugely publicized attack makes it easy
for me to answer the questions above.
However, the schools, suburbs and
malls of Karachi are not facing immediate threats from the Taliban (not yet).
But the schools and neighbor of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where Swat is located, are
always on red alert. It is that province where the Taliban thrive and where
they exhibit their influence. Malala’s courage back in 2008 when she cried out
on live television “Open my School!” may not have influenced me or my friends
but it certainly spelled hope for her peers. When Malala got nominated for the
international peace award and was covered by all the top newspapers of the
world she certainly inspired and gave courage to all those girls who go to her
school, who travel in her bus and who live in the neighborhoods haunted by the
Taliban. Malala even after attaining international acclaim did not take a
scholarship to attend school abroad or migrate to a more developed area of
Pakistan. She stayed in Swat and believed that with her will she can excel at
home and that only would have reaffirmed the belief of her peers in their home
city and in the educational facilities available to them.
Where kids from even the most privileged
families of Pakistan aspire for a career abroad and making a life for themselves
in Europe or North America thereby adding to the brain drain crisis of
Pakistan, Malala belongs to that distinct class who had the opportunity to move
to greener pastures but she believed in making things right at home. Malala
does not belong to so called liberal class of Pakistan who cherish and miss the
years when Pakistan had casinos and pubs and it fell on the infamous hippy
trail of the 1970’s. Malala’s liberal ideals are not tied down to having such
avenues of entertainment in her city. However, her ideals appear to advocate
the right for one to get the education and exposure which will allow one the
freedom and wisdom to live life their own way.
Being a daughter of an educationist
it is not hard to imagine why Malala’s biggest anxiety was the threat to her
education when the Taliban occupied Malakand Division. Perhaps, barring
everything else, had the Taliban not forbid education for female students,
Malala being just 11 would have been unconcerned as to who rules the country.
However, the Taliban challenged Malala’s ideals with their extremist laws and
she refused to bow down and in doing so she taught her friends and their
families to do the same. She not just challenged the authority of the Taliban
but their ideology as well. An ideology which does not accepts arguments,
contra reasoning or even an intellectual discourse.
When Malakand was rescued by the Armed
Forces in 2008-09 we all saw deserted training camps of the Taliban on
television. I still remember seeing murals of heaven and beautiful women,
presented as infamous 70 virgins, drawn
on the walls of those training camps. It was not heard to guess what was being
taught there. The Taliban were not motivating their recruits with monetary
benefits. It also only made it more certain that the Taliban are not a
commercial enterprise which offers jobs. Being a force born out of an ideology
they operate like an institution, though a menacing one, which brainwashes its
recruits and takes away their ability to reason. Ideologies are not harmed by
guns and drones. Ideologies are challenged by education of and exposure to the
opposite views and in this instance it is Malala’s view. Her view that
education is her right and it is her biggest tool to become a strong and
independent individual. Her view that education will help her understand her
religion, Islam, and the rights it gives to women better and thus not accept
any orthodox and extremist fatwa thrown at her by the Taliban.
And the relevance of Malala’s ideology
is not just limited to countering the Taliban. Pakistan suffers from various
criminal cultural traditions which have nothing to do with the Taliban. Karo
Kari, Watta Satta, bartering women for clearing debts, getting women married to
shrines and holy books and child marriages. All this may change is Malala’s
ideology of education for every female child is adopted and promoted at a
National level. It certainly does not appear to be the case right with Pakistan
estimated to have close to 25,000 ghost schools.
Pakistan needs to stop living in
denial and stop waiting for outrageous events like the public flogging of a
woman or an assassination attempt of a 14 year old by the Taliban to realize how
grave this threat it. Pakistan and its government need to endorse the idea that
the Taliban were in fact scared of Malala’s ideology because perhaps that way
we can give it the importance it deserves and work towards saving its future
generations from all kinds of extremism whether religious or cultural. The
outrage this attack has created is nearest to the one I witnessed when Benazir
Bhutto was assassinated. It is interesting that when Malala expressed her
desire to be a politician three years ago she cited Benazir as her inspiration.
The Pakistani people need to channel this outrage in forcing the government to
shift its focus to developing educational and health facilities in the country
rather than spend millions of dollars in expanding its nuclear arsenal.
It would be indeed criminal on Pakistan’s
part if the only people who realize the worth of Malala’s ideals are
international pop stars and foreign heads of state.
