At the age of just 17 Malala Yousafzai is probably the most
famous Pakistani in the world today. This blog is an attempt to unravel the
mystery that surrounds Malala.
Malala was born on 12/07/1997 to Ziauddin and Toorpekai
Yousafzai in Swat, Pakistan. Ziauddin was inspired by Marxist ideology and was
active in promoting education for boys and girls in Swat. His deep interest in
politics meant that he constantly discussed politics with his children,
especially Malala. By the time she was 12 she could discuss politics
intelligently and, under persuasion by her father, had given up her earlier
wish of becoming a doctor in favour of becoming a politician.
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| Malala before PakTaliban came to Swat |
In 2007 Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan was formed in the tribal
areas of Pakistan bordering Afghanistan, known as FATA (Federally Administered
Tribal Areas). These so-called Pakistani Taliban were distinct from the Afghan
Taliban, who were engaged in a fierce struggle to drive out foreign forces from
Afghan soil. The Pakistani Taliban, espousing a weird form of Islam, had just
one aim: to carry out terrorist activities in Pakistan and to destabilize the
country. They were surrounded on three sides by Pakistan’s military, leaving
the porous border with Afghanistan as the route from where armaments, tools of
terrorism and finance flowed in freely. Numerous reports in Pakistan’s press
named the backers as the American CIA and Indian RAW.
Pakistan’s incompetent federal government failed miserably
to control the growing influence of Pakistani Taliban, who became the effective
rulers of FATA within two years. Emboldened by their success, PakTaliban moved
further into the neighbouring province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KPK), especially
Swat, and forcibly imposed such perversions as banning girls’ education in the
areas under their control. By the time Malala was 11 it was the writ of
PakTaliban that prevailed in Swat.
What was life like under PakTaliban? BBC Urdu had a
brilliant idea. Get a Swati student to write a regular blog! A 16 years old
girl volunteered but withdrew under pressure from her family who feared
reprisals from PakTaliban. Ziauddin, however, offered up 11 years old Malala as
the blogger. She was deemed too young but was eventually accepted as the fear
of the ruthless Taliban had driven away more suitable pupils. On 3/01/2009
Malala’s first blog in Urdu appeared at the BBC Urdu website under the
pseudonym Gul Makai (Sunflower). She wrote several blogs, the last one on 12/03/2009.
With great courage she gave a candid account of her life in Mingora (the main
town in Swat) under PakTaliban occupation and wrote passionately about girls’
education.
From that point Malala’s rise to fame was rapid as a US
journalist made a New York Times documentary about her and she gave interviews
in print and on television. In July 2009 Richard Holbrooke, US president
Obama’s special representative for “AfPak”, had a meeting with the
twelve-year-old! By December 2009 the identity of Gul Makai, the young BBC
blogger, had been revealed in articles about Malala. PakTaliban issued numerous
death threats to her but Ziauddin paid little heed, possibly because of the
action of Pakistan Army in the summer of 2010 to drive PakTaliban out of KPK.
In July 2012 Malala gave a speech at National Marxist Summer School in
Pakistan.
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| Malala after PakTaliban shooting |
The area commander of PakTaliban, Mullah Fazlullah, gave the
order for her assassination. Fazlullah is currently the leader of PakTaliban
and lives across the border in Afghanistan. He is said to have the support of
Afghan, American and Indian secret services. On 9/10/2012, aged 15, Malala was
shot at close range by a young Talib as she travelled home in her school bus.
One bullet entered the left side of her forehead, travelled down her face and
embedded itself in her shoulder. After initial operations in Pakistan she was
sent to the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham for intensive
rehabilitation.
On 15/10/2012 a famous visitor came to see Malala in her
hospital bed. It was Gordon Brown, the former British Prime Minister who was
once close to America’s Obama, and now acted as the UN Special Envoy for Global
Education. He lost no time in launching a petition for children’s education
under the catchy slogan “I am Malala”. He is thought to have put forward the
name of the anti-Pakistan, anti-Islam journalist Christina Lamb to ghost-write
Malala’s autobiography in English. Predictably, when the book was published in
October 2013 it had the title “I am Malala”! This book is notable for the
disagreeable way Lamb has exploited a child by slipping in comments in Malala’s
name which would have been beyond her comprehension. As an example, Salman
Rushdie’s infamous book “Satanic Verses” is mentioned in the context of freedom
of expression even though Muslims worldwide were deeply hurt by the perversity
of Rushdie in deliberately abusing and ridiculing what the Muslims hold sacred
and dear.
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| With Gordon Brown |
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| Ziauddin with Mrs Brown |
The PakTaliban have reiterated their death threats to both
Malala and her father. In my opinion most Pakistanis tend to see Malala as an
idealist who is now virtually a willing prisoner in the hands of western
politicians. She will be used for their political ends as much as possible and
will be discarded eventually as her Marxism or her Islam are seen as insurmountable
obstacles. Her Nobel Prize for Peace, too, is seen in political terms for two
reasons: firstly, Malala has done nothing for regional or world peace and,
secondly, to make the prize palatable to India she had to share it with a
virtually unknown Indian.
Malala is growing up into an assured young woman of great
dignity and charm. So far she has coped with her fame with no trace of
arrogance and self-importance. May Allah’s Grace and Mercy accompany her in her
life.
Tailpiece
