by B. R. GOWANI
IMAGE/Barnes and Noble
Two years back, a Pakistani teen Malala Yousufzai, a crusader for girls’ education, was shot in head and neck by the Pakistan Taliban gunmen. She was severely injured and went into coma. But the timely and first rate treatment ensured her recovery. She is still fighting for girls education and has become an international celebrity. And without doubt, the West, particularly the United States, is using her to show to the world how civilized it is and how uncivilized the attackers are. On the other hand, many of her fellow country people are never tired of depicting her as a Western stooge. Which she is not.
Malala is not a radical person but she has used some strong words on certain issues. When she was invited to the White House, she let President Barack Obama know about her views on the drone attacks.
“I also expressed my concerns that drone attacks are fueling terrorism. Innocent victims are killed in these acts, and they lead to resentment among the Pakistani people. If we refocus efforts on education, it will make a big impact.”
Elsewhere, a paragraph from Malala’s message to the Historic 32nd congress of Pakistani section of IMT in March 2013 shows her understanding of the unjust economic system and the way to eradicate it.
“I would like to send my heartfelt greetings to the [32nd] congress [of the Pakistani Marxists]. I am convinced Socialism is the only answer and I urge all comrades to take this struggle to a victorious conclusion. Only this will free us from the chains of bigotry and exploitation.”
Last year, her critics got another excuse to go after her. They had a problem with her book I Am Malala, co-written with Christina Lamb. It was maligned as having “anti-Pakistan and anti-Islam content” by the All Pakistan Private Schools Federation. (The Federation doesn’t cover all the private schools. Nor does it have any control over the elite schools.) It also banned its members from buying her book.
The Federation’s Kashif Mirza Ali attacked Malala for defending the freedom of speech and her appeal for tolerance.
“[It is] clear that Malala has nexus with Salman Rushdie and Taslima Nasrin, and also has alignment with Salman Rushdie’s ideological club.”
He also had problem with her because she didn’t added the abbreviation “PUH” or “peace be upon him” after Muhammed’s name.
Now this year, Ali, along with many other Pakistanis, felt troubled because Malala was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, which she shared with India’s Kailash Satyarthi, an anti-child labor activist. (At 17, she became the youngest-ever Nobel Prize winner.) The Federation declared November 10, 2014 as “I am not Malala” day.
Malala is the second Pakistani to win the Nobel Prize and has met the same fate as the first one, Dr. Abdus Salam. (Dr. Salam, who shared the physics prize with Sheldon Lee Glashow and Steven Weinberg, was discriminated against because he was an Ahmadi Muslim.)
Pakistan seems to be much poorer than the Christian sect in Mel Brooks’ 1981 comedy film History of the World, Part I. In the film, a couple of characters had the following conversation:
Comicus: Have you heard of this new sect, the Christians? They are a laugh riot! First of all, they are so poor…
Swiftus: How poor are they?
Comicus: Thank you! They are so poor… that they only have *one* God!
[drumbeat, everyone laughs]
Comicus: But we Romans are rich. We’ve got a lot of gods. We’ve got a god for everything. The only thing we don’t have a god for is premature ejaculation… but I hear that’s coming quickly.
Professor Salam died in exile and Malala can’t go to Pakistan because of deadly threats from the extremists.
The dumbheads in Pakistan don’t want people to be “Malala.” But then what do they want Pakistanis to be?
Terrorists who blow up people, including children.
Religious extremists who behead people.
Barbarians who imprison women inside the four walls.
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B. R. Gowani can be reached at brgowani@hotmail.com