“I do
not even hate the Talib who shot me. Even if there is a gun in my hand and he
stands in front of me. I would not shoot him. This is the compassion that I
have learnt from Muhammad-the prophet of mercy, Jesus Christ and Lord Buddha”
-------------- MALALA YOUSAFSAI , ON UN SPEECH
 |
| malala at UN |
It was
difficult for me to accept that national media gave much attention to a
teenager who was shot down by the Taliban in SWAT province of Pakistan, that
too, a girl! But who was she? I, being an Indian had no affinity for Pakistan,
or I do. But this incident on 9 October 2012 turned out to be a great chance
for me and the world to know about a girl, who stood for Women’s rights, that
too In Pakistan, much infamous for its atrocity over women. Were, women has
been banned from entering public place all alone, where girls are not allowed
to get proper education. Where children are forced to play with missiles
when they are up to an age to hold a pen. I had no scope for her recovery, Taliban did shot her, and
their bullets never miss the target. But, a miracle did happen, it was God’s
will and it did happen, MALALA rose again like a phoenix bird. The world condemned the evil deeds of
Taliban and their old views on women rights. They may not be even knowing
something thing about RIGHTs. Later she got an opportunity to speak her mind at
the UN. The world listened to her. Now, she stands as the mascot of new age
feminism, which aims at giving girls and women the right to live with
their “Head-Held-High”.
Without considering their ethnicity, nationality, culture and tradition.
Malala, in
the year 2009 started writing for BBC on their Urdu blog, which emphasised to
showcase students’ life in war fed SWAT province of Pakistan. Taliban did chop
off policemen’s head and hanged on the street square. Houses were vandalised
and ethnic minorities were brutally treated by the militants. Taliban later
banned girl schools and continued destroying them; families were forced to
shift to Peshawar or Lahore. But, after a small interval Taliban did agree to
lift the ban on schools. Later, Malala, who spoke for women and against Taliban
was shot down by Taliban. She was shifted to London and she had a narrow escape.
But what really matters is her affinity towards her dreams. She admits that she
is not fighting against Taliban; she evoked the life lessons she learned from
Mahatma Gandhi, Lord Buddha, mother Teresa and the Martin Luther king. But, what is
the real task ahead of her? Will Pakistan government risk getting Malala back? How
can Malala fight against Taliban, when Taliban is assumed to occupy Afghan
parliament after NATO withdraws from the war fed nation?
What Malala
can do, is to be an ambassador of peace for the “terror corridor”, normally referring to the
afghan-pak region. Nothing can change dramatically the evil mind of the
militants, what can neutralise the power is to defeat the Taliban and its
brother organisations. Withdrawing of NATO will leave the whole Asia in trouble
and it will surely have an impact on India, as the democracy is the real target
of Pakistani militants. It will increase militancy in Kashmir. It will surely
result in Pakistan-Jihadi nexus, more precisely ISI. Here,
coming to the Malala matter, beyond doubt, she is the symbolism of Intellectual
feminism. As, it was important to note that her speech
at United Nations was balanced, she mentioned every section of society and
mentioning Gandhi was a clever one. With this, she created a sympathy wind in
both Pakistan and India. She criticised India over the child labour. Nigeria- for
poor poverty eradicating programmes. Pakistan- for denying women their
rights...
Interestingly,
all these chain of events happened when Taliban opened their office in Doha, to
be more precisely, when they raised afghan flag in their office and displayed the
name of “Islamic Emirates of Afghanistan”, which was its name during the five year military
rule. Malala, for the time being should concentrate on developing her own credentials;
she should go back to Pakistan and contest elections. Definitely, the public
mood will be in favour of her and she can be a replica of ‘Benezar Bhutto’. She
can have an overwhelming support from global nations as she is considered to be
a realistic leader with secular credentials. She will be accepted by minorities
too. If she can emerge as a strong ruler, militant activities in Pakistan will
shrink and global view on Pakistan will change. As reports suggests, she is the
front runner for Nobel Prize for peace, it will give Pakistan some time
to relax as the nation is commonly referred to as the epicentre of world
terrorism.
Pakistan finally produced someone who is worth of changing worlds’
prospective towards women.
She stands before millions of women who live like slaves in the world, who are treated like
animals, to whom laws never bend. Her speech at United Nations is highly optimistic
and is full of positive energy and a ‘can do’ approach. She has got a task
before her, to ignite herself and spread light to the world as Bengali author Rabindranath
Tagore wrote in one of his poem. She has got every potential to overcome the created
by the Taliban and barriers created by those people who still refuse to come
out of darkness...............
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