 |
|
Malala Yousufzai |
She rose to international prominence in 2009, aged just 11, writing a blog for the BBC Urdu service chronicling the terror of life under Taliban rule in Swat, the beautiful valley in northwestern Pakistan where she lived.
The militants had taken over the area, which Malala affectionately called “My Swat”, in 2007 and imposed their brutal, bloody interpretation of Islamic shariah law.
Opponents were murdered, people were publicly flogged for supposed breaches of sharia, women were banned from going to market — and girls were stopped from going to school.
Her blog, written anonymously with the clarity and frankness of a child, opened a window for Pakistan onto the miseries being perpetrated within the country’s borders.
In January 2009 she wrote about her school telling the girls to come in normal clothes, rather than their uniform.
“So I decided to wear my favourite pink dress. Other girls in school were also wearing colourful dresses. During the morning assembly we were told not to wear colourful clothes as the Taliban would object to it,” she wrote.
Her struggle resonated with tens of thousands of girls denied an education by Islamist militants across northwest Pakistan, where the government has been fighting local Taliban since 2007.
When the army launched an offensive to oust the Taliban, Malala fled Swat with her family led by her father Ziauddin, school principal and himself a seasoned campaigner for education.
After this difficult period she resumed her work promoting education, and last year she received the first national peace award from the Pakistani government and was also nominated for the International Children’s Peace Prize.
But on October 9 the men with guns decided they could no longer tolerate the girl with a book and sent two hitmen to murder Malala on her school bus.
The Pakistani Taliban claimed the attack and warned any woman who stood up to them would suffer a similar fate.
Incredibly she survived — the bullet grazed her brain and travelled through her neck before lodging in her shoulder — and as she lay fighting for life in hospital, Pakistan and the world united in horror.
After surgery in Pakistan, Malala was flown for long-term treatment in Britain, where the consulate in Birmingham has been flooded with cards for the 15-year-old from well-wishers around the world.
As she recovers, now reunited with her family, her courage and defiance are inspiring girls in her home country — where less than half of women can read and write — to pursue their studies despite the challenges of Islamist militants and poverty. AFP
New US envoy arrives in Pakistan
US Ambassador-designate to Pakistan, Richard Olson, who arrived in Islamabad yesterday, promised to “build a relationship based on mutual respect and common interests”.
“I am excited to begin my work in Pakistan. I look forward to presenting my credentials to President Zardari as soon as possible and to start working with Pakistanis from all sections of society,” Olson said upon his arrival, the US embassy said.
He said there is tremendous potential in Pakistan and he wants to work with the people of this country “to increase economic opportunity, expand trade between our two countries, address the energy crisis, and improve the quality of education and healthcare for all”, reported Xinhua.
Olson said he wants to see as much of this beautiful country as possible and meet its talented people.
Olson was sworn in by Secretary of State Hilary Clinton as ambassador to Pakistan on September 24. His previous assignment was the co-ordinating director for Development and Economic Affairs at the US embassy in Kabul, Afghanistan from 2011 to 2012.