Malala — the Noble one

One of the stories my parents often told us when we were children was of a man who was on board a ship full of passengers that capsized mid-sea. The drowning passengers shouted for attention, some scrambled to hold on to floating objects, others tried to swim to safety, all except this one man who did nothing at all. When a lifeboat came to his rescue, he let it pass. “God will save me,” he said. When a life jacket was thrown at him, he let it be. “God will save me,” he said again. Finally, when a rescue helicopter threw a rope down at him, he refused to grab it. “God will save me” were his last words. And so, when the man met his Creator, feeling let down and cheated, he asked, “Dear God, I was your believer, your humble servant, I prayed for you to save me and I believed you would, but you never came for me!” To this, the Creator replies, “You damn fool! I sent you a lifeboat, you refused to get on it, I sent you a life jacket, you refused to wear it, I sent you a helicopter, you refused to climb up. What more do you want from me?”

Such is the story of Pakistan — a history pock-marked with lost opportunities. Remember, we did not start off so badly; we got here over time as a direct result of our own flawed decisions and deeds. Easy as it is to hold divinity responsible for not salvaging us, the truth is, we have been blessed with several role models, several opportunities and several heroes and leaders, but we failed to take heed.

A quote contentiously attributed to Abraham Lincoln goes “Any nation that does not honour its heroes will not endure”. Let’s hope for Pakistan’s sake that Linclon’s words are not prophetic, for we are a nation rich with tales of our leaders and heroes falsely persecuted and executed, their lives tortured, their graves defiled, their names wiped out of school book syllabi, while traitors chargeable with treason are glorified and terrorists are bred and incubated in the name of patriotism and religion.

Yet, every few decades, from the soil of our beloved country that cloaks our long gone leaders, our real patriots and heroes, springs a new seedling of hope. This time, its name is Malala — the bravest girl in the world.

In the moments leading up to the Nobel Peace Prize announcement, Abdul Hai Kakar, the well-respected journalist who had prompted Malala to write her BBC diaries tweeted, “The bullets fired by Taliban to kill Malala inadvertently killed Taliban’s narrative”

“… and stirred a new awakening in Pakistanis”, I added.

You may deride us for being naive and implausibly wishful, or perhaps, forgive us for being caught in an emotional moment, for is that not what Malala does — inspire hope infused with courage to defy fear and believe in the impossible. But what can’t be denied is that the sight of young girls praying and singing for Malala’s win, men and women from all four provinces declaring their support for her mission, TV channels airing dedications, all culminated into a crescendo of national fervour, which in itself was a very special, awe-inspiring moment.

“Dartay hain bandookon walay ek nihatti larki say” words once written for Shaheed Benazir Bhutto, who Malala says is her inspiration and role model, are being repeated today for her, and aptly so. What this remarkable little girl has achieved through her bravery and resilience, armed with nothing more than her pen and a heart full of desire for education, has exposed the cowardice of many. “Phailay hain himmat kay ujalay ek nihatti larki say”. Now the question is, will we take Malala’s cue to change our children’s future, or yet again, miss the opportunity. Will we educate and empower our girls or will we disregard our role model, our hero, a teenage Pakistani girl who has become a global ambassador for education? Are we going to grab hold of the rope thrown at us and be pulled up, or are we going to drown while waiting for a miracle? The choice is a no-brainer.

Let’s do it.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 21^st, 2013.

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