Malala in Pakistan

Nobel Prize-winning rights activist Malala Yousafzai arrived in Karachi this week to visit flood-affected areas and use her reputation and fame to bring attention and international support to the natural disaster victims. Globally, Malala is lauded with near-unanimity for her activism, which primarily focuses on access to education, especially for girls; but at home, she sadly remains a controversial figure, mainly among the kind of people who believe that individuals drawing international attention on human rights issues or anything else that does not portray a ‘positive image’ of the country are anti-state.

There is also some irony in the fact that people in the latter group still question why Malala — who left Pakistan to seek medical treatment after being shot in the head by TTP terrorists and then stayed abroad for her security — ever felt unsafe in Pakistan, even after the APS attack, or the fact that terrorists shot and killed a school van driver and injured a student in her home district of Swat just a day before she returned to the country. The truth is that internationally, Malala has a higher profile and greater media access than any Pakistani celebrity, politician, sports star, etc. Under the right circumstances, she could help raise more support for flood victims than any individual.

A fairer critique could be that, given the scale of devastation that was already clear by midsummer, Malala could have made a trip several weeks ago. However, it is worth noting that she reached Pakistan on October 11, which is observed annually as the International Day of the Girl Child — a day to recognise the inequalities women and girls face in health, legal rights, sociopolitical rights, security and education. These issues, and especially education, align directly with the core objective of the Malala Fund. Regardless, any support and attention she can generate would be more than welcome by flood victims. As things stand, floods have killed 1,700 people among a total of 33 million victims, and caused a loss of $30 billion.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 13^th, 2022.

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