More mail: Malala vows to defeat terror with power of pen

Afghan ambassador to Britain presents Karzai’s letter to Malala.

ISLAMABAD:

Malala Yousufzai has repeated her resolve to fight violence and bloodshed with education and has reiterated to carry on her effort for the improvement of Afghan and Pakistani children.

Appreciating President Karzai’s letter, Malala thanked all those who have supported her and said, “I have a new life now. They wanted to kill me but were not able to do so.”

“I will continue struggling for the improvement of Afghan and Pakistani children’s lives and education,” the Afghan foreign ministry quoted her as saying.

Earlier, Afghanistan’s ambassador to Britain, Mr Daud Yaar presented Afghan President Hamid Karzai’s letter to Malala Yousafzai on Monday, in a gathering held by the Afghan Students Association in London. President Karzai praised Malala’s speech at the United Nations, appreciated her courage and congratulated her on her sixteenth birthday wishing her health and success for her humanitarian objectives.

“Malala’s voice is the voice of all those girls and it is heard now,” the letter read. Karzai went on to say that Malala is an example for thousands of Afghan and Pakistani girls whose voices were unheard in the past. The Afghan president praised the global icon’s efforts to raise her voice against the threats from the Taliban that have prevented Afghan and Pakistani children from going to schools.



Malala’s father, Ziauddin Yousafzai, also appreciated the support of the Afghan President at the occasion saying that ‘Talib’ literally means student, but it no longer has the same meaning to the vast majority of the people of the world.

There is a negative connotation attached to this word, he said, adding “When people hear this word, they think of guns, killing, crime and calamity,” the statement from the Afghan foreign ministry quoted him as saying at the function in London. He was hopeful that the war in Afghanistan and Pakistan will, one day, come to an end and the power of the pen will ultimately usher the “ultimate victory.”

Others present at the occasion were Yousafzai’s family, Afghan students in London, Afghan, Pakistani and British community members and staff of Afghanistan’s embassy in London.

Published in The Express Tribune, July 23^rd, 2013.