What an ungrateful nation which celebrates bin Laden, Hakeemullah Mehsud, Mumtaz Qadri as heroes, but rejects Malala
JUBAIL: One student, one teacher, one book and one pen can change the world. This message from a teenager moved the world and October 10 saw the world recognise this when Malala Yousafzai was given the Nobel Peace Prize. But let’s rewind the events and we find a host of right-wing and religious leaders emitting venom and hatred against her — terming the attack on her as a staged drama, her months-long treatment and complex face surgery/rebuilding as fraud, her being an agent of the West working against the true followers of the religion.
Her July 2013 speech at the UN — celebrated by the UN as World Malala Day — angered many right-wingers in Pakistan because she referred to Buddha, Martin Luther King and Nelson Mandela as sources of inspiration and compassion. The launching ceremony of her biography was cancelled in her home province of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa by the PTI-JI government.
The Nobel Prize that Malala has been awarded can prove to be valuable for Pakistan as it can help us show the world that we are against terrorism, are working for children, especially girls’ education, and are united to protect the weak segments of society. However, it is unfortunate that Malala cannot return to her country due to security threats. What an ungrateful nation, which celebrates Osama bin Laden, Hakeemullah Mehsud and Mumtaz Qadri as its heroes, but rejects its Nobel prize-winners.
Masood Khan
Published in The Express Tribune, October 19th, 2014.
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