My thoughts on Malala Yousefzai

On October 9^th, a gunman stopped a school bus on a road in Mingora, Swat Valley. He identified14-years-old Malala Yousefzai and shot her in the head.

Fighting for her life, Ms. Yousefzai has emerged as the symbol for women rights, education and empowerment in a society that has long been a subject of debate all over the world. The incident has generated a lot of controversy in many circles.

Malala Yousefzai was airlifted to Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham on 15^th October. There is a chance that she would survive the injuries and return to Pakistan after extensive recover and rehabilitation.

Malala Yousefzai was just another girl in a region where being a women is an unforgivable crime. She wanted to become educated, another sin in the eyes of eth tribal law. However, her most damning crime was her outspokenness.

Supported by her father, Ziauddin Yousefzai, she wrote a series of blogs on the BBC‘s website in 2009. This blog was titled “Diary of a Pakistani Schoolgirl” became an instant hit on the internet. It is a raw depiction of the troubles that people faced during the height of the Taliban insurgency.

Reading through it, one passage stands out and pretty much sums up the feelings of the child. The last entry reads:” I had a terrible dream yesterday with military helicopters and the Taleban. I have had such dreams since the launch of the military operation in Swat. My mother made me breakfast and I went off to school. I was afraid going to school because the Taleban had issued an edict banning all girls from attending schools.”

True to their usual self, power players and political actors have seized the opportunity to gain some political mileage out of the incident. Every politician has issued statements that cover the entire spectrum of the issue of Taliban insurgency.

While everyone condemns the incident, the debate on why it happened and what should be done about it is rapidly turning into a political sinkhole. Everyone is hunting for a scapegoat to blame and then crucify publically.

Liberals are foaming at the mouth and the conservatives are retaliating with their denouncement of NATO, the US and their personal favorite, the drone attacks. There are factions within these two groups that do not agree on a formula of allocating the blame.

Conservatives and religious elements have an easier time in this matter. Their stance is that Malala Yousefzai was shot because of drone attacks in the tribal areas of Pakistan. For them, this shooting of a school girl is a watershed that could result in the suspension and eventually termination of the attacks.

For liberals, it is a tough nut to crack for two reasons. The most immediate problem is how to turn this incident into a movement of harnessing the ‘rouge’ elements within the security establishment of Pakistan.  In the longer run, the liberals have the problem of justifying the allegations from the religionists.

Malala Yousefzai has the dubious honor of rocking the country twice.

The first time was when her words showed the world the true face of the Taliban insurgency. The second time is crueler. Her misery is being used as an advertisement by both sides.

Will Malala ever able to write another blog and clarify her position?