LUBP congratulates Malala Yousafzai and Kailash Satyarthi on winning Nobel Peace Prize
Let Us Build Pakistan and its team congratulates Malala and Kailash on winning the Nobel Peace Prize. They put their lives in danger to fight for the rights of children and education. As a 15-year old student, Malala was shot in the head by members of the Deobandi terrorist organisation, the Taliban. Her crime – being an activist for female education.
Image courtesy AFP
The Taliban follow a misogynistic creed which is the same espoused by the infamous Deobandi preacher, Junaid Jamshed. During the time when they were in power in Afghanistan, the Taliban dealt the most severest blow to women’s health and education.
For the Taliban and their apologists in the Jamaat Islami, PML N, PTI and JUI F, female empowerment is an anathema. Malala also represents the cultural divide in Pakistan. On the one hand, there is a significant section of the population that looks up to Malala and which has also suffered significantly at the hands of Deobandi terrorist groups like the Taliban and ASWJ-LeJ.
On the other hand are the Pakistani urban bourgeoisie and upper classes who are increasingly under the sway of Deobandi and Salafist strains of faith. This is the Farhat Hashmi crowd who prefers convicted terrorists like Aafia Siddiqui who disgraced Pakistan; as opposed to Malala who presents Pakistan in a more favourable light to the rest of the world.
Some segments of this population are now harping that the Nobel Peace Prize should have gone to the distinguished philanthropist Abdus Sattar Edhi. Curiously before Malala’s nomination and subsequent prize, they never advocated for Edhi sahib.
Malala should stay true to her base and continue to strive for the cause of education. We must also not forget how other children in Pakistan have sacrificed their lives and near and dear ones for the cause of education. Aitzaz Hussain, a fellow Pashtun teenager intercepted a Taliban suicide bomber and gave his life to save hundreds of his school mates who were the intended targets. Aitzaz Hussain also belonged to the targeted Shia community which would explain the lukewarm response he got from Pakistan’s sectarian “liberals” one of whom, Ejaz Haider, wrote this obituary.
By standing up for education, Malala stands for everything that the Taliban are not. This is something that Malala must not lose focus on as there will be plenty of opportunists to misuse her struggle.