Malala’s return

Malala Yousafzai, the youngest noble laureate has finally returned home. Although her bravery is unprecedented for which she was justly acknowledged by the international community, but still she isn’t accepted as a representative by the majority of People in her native land. The conspiracy theories which Pakistani’s are in love with pervade every aspect of her tale of bravery. Rather than being hailed for her achievements and bravery she is subjected to unqualified accusations as being a foreign agent who is defaming the nation at the international level. Without introspection the community at large carry forward their barrage of accusation, sometime they equate Malala with the victims of the tragic Peshawar attack in which multiple pupils in a school lost their lives and many wounded are still convalescing mentally or physically from the trauma they witnessed. But we need to bear in mind that just because they were not acknowledged by the world as Malala was doesn’t discredit Malala of the contribution and sacrifice she made. She could be the face of all the victims who are afflicted by the haters of education, who leave no stone unturned to impede and discourage their educational endeavors. Therefore rather than ostracizing any of the victims we should focus our energies on voicing the cause for which the innocent school goers sacrificed. Recently in the U.S after the Florida school shooting, the student mobilized the community and 300,000 people turned out on the streets to raise awareness regarding gun violence and ask for the needful to be done so that such incidents don’t occur again. Tragically in Pakistan rather than fighting the mindset from which Malala and students in Peshawar suffered we are busy labeling who is the real hero and who isn’t. I have a dream of seeing a mass mobilization by the people here on the same lines as in the U.S. under the leadership of those who have suffered the most I.e. Malala and APS students of Peshawar. Whereas the love of conspiracy theories only obfuscates the real cause for which both Malala and other victims suffered.

Submitted by B.H.