Why-malala-should-be-awarded-the-nobel-peace-prize?
Why Malala should be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize
October 10, 2013 at 5:31am
By Maheen UsmaniThe importance of the support of the male figures in the lives of girls in matriarchial societies like Pakistan cannot be emphasised enough. Sadly, too many talented women are denied the opportunity to grow and blossom into their full potential. Ziauddin Yousafzai was recently asked if he had paid special attention to his daughter, Malala. How had she turned out the way she did?
“I haven’t done anything. But I did not clip her wings as most fathers and families do. That’s all I’ve done. In fact, you could say she is the way she is not because of what I’ve done, but because of what I haven’t done.”
Once upon a time in Karachi, a brilliant 19 year old girl was forced to abandon her studies at Cambridge University after one year because her family deemed it the right time for her to marry. On her wedding day, she sat on stage lit up like a Christmas tree, accepting congratulations from her school friends, and if her fixed smile did not quite reach her eyes, no one really noticed. She hailed from the same province as Malala, Khyber Pukhtunkhwa, but she was not lucky enough to have a father like Malala's.
In an interview recorded a couple of years ago, his hand draped over a beaming Malala's head, Ziauddin said with emotion: “When she was born, I looked into her eyes and I loved her, I really loved her.”
Malala was emboldened by this love, not encumbered, because her father gave her the chance to lead life on her own terms. Too often parental love for children is translated into the desire to have them march to the drum beaten by the parents. How many of us in Pakistan heed Kahlil Gibran's wise words:
''Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life's longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you, yet they belong not to you.
You may give them your love but not your thoughts.
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them, but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.
You are the bows from which your children as living arrows are sent forth.
The archer sees the mark upon the path of the infinite, and He bends you with His might that His arrows may go swift and far.
Let your bending in the archer's hand be for gladness;
For even as he loves the arrow that flies, so He loves also the bow that is stable.''
Ziauddin Yousufzai may have been born in a conservative culture, but he took Gibran's words to heart and allowed his daughter to grow unfettered by society’s restrictions. Malala may be bright and mature beyond her years, but if she did not have a father who supported her dreams and ambitions, her confidence and self esteem would have been dimmed.
Today, the world is her oyster. Whatever she chooses to do later in life, one can be sure that her family will stand by her every step of the way. The intelligence in those flashing eyes, the ready smile, the well articulated thoughts, the poised demeanour that is Malala is a credit to her family and her country. It’s a vision girls all over the world should aspire to, but especially so in Pakistan where girls on average are constrained to follow the dictates of family elders and then that of the husband and his family. Educational statistics are abysmal: only 38% of all 7-15 year old girls in Pakistan have ever attended school.
The Taliban destroyed schools in Swat and shot Malala because they did not want to see girls gaining an education. Ironic that the terrorists claim this is Islam when one of the first verses in the Quran is “Iqra” or to read. A well known saying of Prophet Muhammed (p.b.u.h) in the times of Jahalliya (ignorance) is that one should obtain education even if one has to go to China to learn. As Malala says, “Terrorists were afraid of the power of education.” It is easy to sway people when their minds are closed.
Malala’s message is resounding and not only applicable to Pakistan but to the world in general. ‘’If each new generation is not given pens, they will be given guns." Not averse to typical teenage tongue in cheek humour, Malala quips: "I think Taliban may be regretting that they shot Malala. Now she is heard in every corner of the world!"
Malala’s message of peace, brotherhood, education, community, justice and tolerance has never been more relevant in our fractured world, riven asunder as it is by plunder and violence. The terrorists may have arms, ammunition, brainwashing, intelligence and resources on their side but as she succinctly puts it: “Ideas are bulletproof” and “one teacher, one book and one pen can change the world.”
As the world cheers on Malala for the Nobel Peace Prize, why are so many Pakistanis ambivalent or openly hostile towards her? How ironic that Pakistan's only Nobel Laureate, Dr Abdus Salam, had to face more brickbats than bouqets from his countrymen and it seems like history is being repeated today. Why are we unable to honour our real heroes and heroines like Malala and Dr Salam, choosing instead to revere divisive men and women who teach us hatred and hostility? Strange that many who hurl abuses at Malala shower rose petals on Mumtaz Qadri, who mowed down Salman Taseer, Governor Punjab, for sectarian reasons.
It is a miracle Malala survived the Taliban bullets and the left side of her face bears testimony to the ravages she has suffered in the last year. She says poignantly: “When I was in hospital, my first question would be "where are my parents" and then I would ask "we are poor, we have no money, how will we pay this?"
There are people who still doubt that Malala was shot by the Taliban despite evidence to the contrary as well illustrated by the damage to her face. In the first link, https://www.youtube.com/watch?, v=bB5OQaKIPuY she appears on morning talk show host Farah’s programme before the attack. The second clip https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dSfLlm0b0Es shows her on the Daily Show with Jon Stewart.
What does it say about us as a nation that we attribute lust for money or fame to a teenager who has more courage in her little finger than all her critics combined? Are the conspiracy theories coming fast and furious because she has shown us all up for the cowards we are in essence, kow towing to the very same terrorists she looked in the eye? Not surprisingly in a land rife with conspiracy theories and denial, videos, speeches, blogs and comments are being shared with alacrity to discredit Malala. The following link, which boasts a detailed embedded video, purports to show Malala as the anti-Christ who is being prepared by the West to stand against Muslims. She has sold herself by showing that Pakistan is a terrorist haven for which she got millions if dollars. No wonder that everyone in Pakistan hates her so much! https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10153344697450314&set=a.10152757432355314.1073741825.328835480313&type=1&theater
How does Malala’s increasing popularity in every continent square with her showing Pakistan in a bad light? Do not the daily bombings, murders, rapes, corruption and mismanagement do a far better job? In this link, https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=173040409540531 a fattened Barelvi mullah spews hate against Malala for daring to name President Obama as her ideal. Apparently, if she was a real Muslim she would have said her favourite was Hazrat Imam Hassan or Hazrat Imam Hussein.
Interestingly, Pakistan suffers from a major gora complex which stems from our colonial roots to some extent as well as racist ideas of beauty. Amusing then to see people who scrape low before any white foreigner, wait like bheegi billis (tame cats) in visa queues at Western embassies and think nothing of marrying a gori to obtain foreign nationality, get furious at the West’s adulation of Malala.
If Malala is awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for her powerful message, it would be a kick in the teeth for such hypocritical haters, as well as her nemesis the Taliban, a boost to the cause of education and such a great unparalelled honour for Pakistan.
Here’s looking at you, kid!
Written By : Maheen Usmani
https://www.facebook.com/notes/maheen-usmani/why-malala-should-be-awarded-the-nobel-peace-prize/10153325784170576
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