Malala Yousafzai during a meeting with UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. PHOTO: REUTERS
As Malala Yousafzai’s 16th birthday was celebrated across the world with a unanimous call for global education and marked by a speech by Yousafzai herself at the UN Headquarters in New York on Friday, the day went by in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (K-P) like any other.
With the exception of a walk in Swat led by the Awami National Party, there were no public tributes to the teenager. Malala underwent tricky recovery after being shot by militants nine months ago in Swat as ‘punishment’ for her pursuit of education.
Political parties and organisations known for working towards children’s rights and universal education were surprisingly quiet about Malala Day.
“We appreciate Malala Yousafzai’s efforts to promote girls’ education,” maintained Ayesha Gulalai, MNA and Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Senior Vice President (women wing). Gulalai added the provincial government declared an ‘education emergency’ because education topped PTI’s to-do list. However, she expressed surprise over why international and government organisations in the province “did not observe the day with zeal and fervour”.
“It’s our negligence as our organisation should have organised an activity on the day,” shared Aurat Foundation Resident Director Shabana. “We appreciate Malala’s struggle for peace and education.” Organisations working on education and child rights should have come up with a collective activity, added the resident director, terming such activities a “need of the hour”.
According to Shirkatgah Programme Officer Shagufta, the non-governmental organisation was unable to mark Malala Day because of “official activities and Ramazan”. Instead, she criticised the K-P government for holding no event to acknowledge the now global icon for girl’s education.
“Silence on the day was unfair as the girl put her life in danger and is still continuing with education,” argued Azra Nafees Yousafzai, the editor of Sahar, a magazine focusing on social and cultural issues in K-P and the tribal belt.
Published in The Express Tribune, July 14th, 2013.
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In the wake of the Malala shooting incident, there had been a total of 4 new U.S. drone strikes in the North Waziristan area killing several innocents. You can't help to sympathize with the girl but doesn't it make you wonder if it was all part of a bigger plan to divert attention away from US atrocities in that same region and to further convince the public that there is still a need for a war to be fought against these backward barbarics. The more drone strikes killing civilians, the more civilians picking up guns, and in doing so, more new terrorists to drone. It really is win-win for those making money out of this, isn’t it? As long as you can show yourself to be a free thinker opposing a common tyrannical threat deemed by the majority’s insightlessness then you can look like a hero.
@ Pakistani: Where is Pakistan? All these girls belong to Pakistan and not to UN. Shame on you.
Silence on the day was unfair as the girl put her life in danger
WOW !! How about hundreds of other girls like Malala who have lost their lives in drone attacks? Where is UN?
No wonder the day wasn't celebrated in Pakistan. at least, the only people I knew who "celebrated," or even acknowledged it were the burgers. And there's a tough reason for it. Half the people in Pakistan are laden with depression, almost half the people in Pakistan are either jobless or don't have food to eat. There are bazillions of kids who don't go to school, and have to earn money in order to get a bite to eat. Every day hundreds die: target killing, hunger, poverty, suicide, murder, drones, etc, etc. People don't have time for celebrating a day for Malala, while thousands of Malalas die everyday. A lot of people are fighting for education, a lot of people are being attacked by the Taliban and the drones. But who cares? They're not "Malalas." Nobody transported their children to Britain (or even to a Pakistani hospital) when they were shot. Nobody provided them with the education and treatment given to Malala. The burgers and the able can sit back and praise Malala and listen to her speech, but the common man has much to do.
A lot of people are now going to call me anti0taliban and Malala hater. I am not. I don't hate her, but I don't love her either. There's something extremely fishy about this whole matter. When every nation who hates Pakistan begins to give importance of such magnitude to a Pakistani girl, something's not right.