Friday, October 10, 2014

What Pakistanis Really Think About Nobel Prize Winner Malala Yousafzai


The Taliban have vowed to kill Yousafzai should she return to Pakistan, but militants are not the only ones who are hostile to her — or suspicious of her latest international accolade.

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch | US Desk
Source/Credit: Think Progress
By Beenish Ahmad | October 10, 2014

Malala Yousafzai won the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday, spurring all sorts of congratulatory remarks from around the world, but the Pakistani education and women’s rights activist is still controversial in her home country.

Conspiracy theories relating to her connection to Western countries began to circulate around Yousafzai soon after she was shot in the head by a Taliban gunman on her way home from school in October of 2012.

The Taliban have vowed to kill Yousafzai should she return to Pakistan, but militants are not the only ones who are hostile to her — or suspicious of her latest international accolade.

“I condemn this decision in the strongest possible words,” Tariq Khattak, an editor at the Pakistan Observer, told the BBC Newshour. “It’s a political decision, a motivated one…And the father of Malala and Malala have done nothing at all. Her father is a good salesman, that’s it. And the daughter has also become a salesgirl. And they are dancing on the tunes of West.

I wrote for the Katmandu-based Himal Southasia soon after the attack: "As she clung to life in those first few days after the attack, widely-circulated text messages suggested that had Malala been killed in the conflict raging through the volatile city of Karachi, she would never have been called the ‘daughter of a nation.’ Many began to suggest that the Taliban-led assassination attempt was in fact a carefully-plotted scheme meant to justify a renewed excursion by the Pakstani army into the country’s northwest frontier."

This meme, which made the rounds on social media in Pakistan, encapsulates the notion that the attempt on Yousafzai’s life was part of a scheme to increase American influence in the country.

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1 comment:

  1. Hearing that Malala's winning a Nobel Prize has annoyed some Pakistanis brought an anecdote to mind. It goes like this:
    A saintly person from Pakistan pleased God so much that He invited him to come and see His place in the sky, somewhere. First the angels showed him the paradise and once that done he wanted to see hell.
    The organization of the hell was nation-wise. There was a pit for every nation and at each there were guards to make sure that no one escaped.
    Naturally this person wanted to see the Pakistani pit in hell. He was amazed to find out that there were no guards at the Pakistani pit! For a minute the fellow was proud thinking that Pakistanis were so disciplined that they would not come out of the pit.
    One of the younger angels chuckled at this Pakistanis thought and told him that if he wanted to he could stay there and see why there were no guards necessary at the Pakistani pit.
    So they sat and started waiting, for something to happen, Then there it was! They saw a Pakistani frantically looking around while trying to climb out. As he came close to the surface and was about to climb out there was a noise. Several Pakistani inmates of hell came rushing and pulled him by the legs, back into the pit.
    Brings also to mind what happened in Islamabad when the Pakistan govt tried to honor Professor Salam for his Nobel prize.
    A somewhat older tale of a certain Pir Hassamuddin writing to Dag Hammarskjold telling him off for appointing Sir Zafrullah. Pir Hassamuddin's main grievance was "Zafrullah is not a Muslim"

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