Malala urges Pakistani children to fight for education
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PESHAWAR: Malala Yousafzai, the youngest-ever Nobel Peace Prize winner, urged children in Pakistan on Tuesday to stand up for their right to go to school.
Malala survived a Taliban assassination attempt in her native northwest Pakistan two years ago and has gone on to champion children's rights.
The 17-year-old now lives with her family in Britain, where she went for treatment after militants shot her in the head.
Speaking via video link, she addressed a thousand schoolchildren at a special event to celebrate her Nobel prize held in the main northwestern city of Peshawar.
“I want to see every girl getting her due respect and we need to raise our voice for it, we need to raise our voice for women's rights, especially for the education of children, and the children should stand and struggle for their future,” she said.
“The nation should help children getting their rights instead of being a hurdle in their struggle. “Malala also called for greater respect for women in what is a deeply conservative, patriarchal society.
“In a country where a female has served as prime minister, where women are serving as doctors and engineers, we should look towards them as role models, “she said.
While Malala has been hailed around the world for standing up for girls' rights to education, the response to her in Pakistan has not been completely positive, with some painting her as a “Western agent” on a mission to shame her country.
Earlier this month an association of private schools in Pakistan held an “I am not Malala” day, condemning the young Nobel laureate for what it called her support for controversial novelist Salman Rushdie.
Read more:Pakistani schools network observes anti-Malala day
Tuseday's event was organised by the Rahid Shaheed Foundation, a charity organisation founded after the only son of former provincial information minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain was gunned down by militants.
Hussain lashed out at the current provincial government, led by former cricketer Imran Khan's Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf party, for not organising any event to mark Malala's Nobel achievement.
“The KP government did not hold any event to mark achievement of Malala because they have sympathies for terrorists, because terrorists are standing behind them and they don't want to upset the terrorists”, he said
Read more
On DawnNews
Comments (56) Closed
Nov 18, 2014 06:58pm
she should focus on his own study
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Nov 18, 2014 07:02pm
good 4 u
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Nov 18, 2014 07:07pm
Dear Malala,
Ignore the jealous, illiterate people that write or say rubbish things about / against you. You need to remember one thing and only one thing; You are spreading the word of Allah Read in the name of Allah- first words utter from Gabriel to our Prophet Mohammad from Allah.
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Nov 18, 2014 07:27pm
Malala pls we dont want another Altaf Bhai....come to Pakistan and do something for education. Pakistan will appreciate.
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Nov 18, 2014 07:34pm
Despite all the leg pullers and haters from her own country, she will remain unfazed and true to her struggle for equal rights for girls education around the world an especially in Pakistan. Keep on marching Malala .
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Nov 18, 2014 07:39pm
Dear Malala, the children who don't go to school cannot read your statements issued from London. Your message urging them to stand up to go to school will never reach them because they don't go to school and hence cannot read newspapers. Isn't it common sense?? If you really want to do some good in Pakistan, you have to be here in Pakistan, away from your cunning opportunist father!!!!
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Nov 18, 2014 07:48pm
Pakistanis hate Malala even though she had made her country proud. But they love Aafia Siddiqui who had given a bad name to Pakistan. See their mentality!
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Nov 18, 2014 07:49pm
I appreciate malala,and i want help from malala ,my school union council Bothro taluka mehar district dadu primary schoo Muhammad ayub DAHAR is in dismal condition and collapse any time.there is no furniture ,lavoratory,bondary wall and no drinking water facilities..and many times students became injured..waiting for you reply thanks
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Nov 18, 2014 08:16pm
Malala stands up atop of a million dollar fortune from the Nobel, book sales and her father controlled Malala Fund. When will this money be used to hire teachers, build schools and help advance the future of girls and boys in Pakistan? Why did she not take the opportunity to save the life of her sister Asia Bibi by raging against this terrible law and begging for her life? Why no comment on the horror of honour killings? Why did she decline the Gordon D Walker Celebration of the Written Arts Award 2014 saying she was just to busy to collect it, when I offered to fly her and her father to Canada to receive it? I also offered to bring the award either to her at the UN or to her UK mansion.
The money that comes with my award is modest, but the pride of all Canadians to help the children of Pakistan is huge! Malala insults Canada by declining my award on one hand and then with the other accepting our offer of honorary Canadian citizenship.
Malala stands for nothing when she refuses to stand in her own country!
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Nov 18, 2014 08:43pm
@Gordon D Walker dear i want your help regarding Dismal condition of my PRIMARY SCHOOL MUHAMMAD AYUB DAHAR TALUKA MEHAR DISTRICT DADU SINDH...SCHOOL can collapse any time,no lavoratory,no furniture ,drinking water and boundary wall.many times students became injured..want your help and i wrote article in 10 october dawn newspaper..repair of school
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Nov 18, 2014 08:44pm
Yea, she sits in London and lectures others. If you mean what you say go to Pakistan and do some work that is befitting to the Nobel prize you 'won'.
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Nov 18, 2014 08:47pm
@Mala keep your mind in ur study, Pakistani do not need your advise, enjoy with ur dollar money, leave Pakistan his on feet. Keep away.
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Nov 18, 2014 08:48pm
@ABDUL RAZAQUE Dear heartfelt comments indeed, you know what is even more sad, to you or your school a Laboratory is synonymous to a Lavatory (Lavoratory as you have said).
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Nov 18, 2014 09:21pm
“In a country where a female has served as prime minister, where women are serving as doctors and engineers, we should look towards them as role models, “she said.
Please search and look at her Nobel prize acceptance speech. She said "education is banned". That made us proud I guess. And today she is addressing a SCHOOL.
Remarkable!
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Nov 18, 2014 09:29pm
@irfan Looks like you need to focus on your studies. Check your grammar please.
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Nov 18, 2014 09:30pm
@Imran
Altaf Hussain has survived several assassination attempts. Nobody wants to leave there homeland until they are not forced.
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Nov 18, 2014 09:53pm
sorry Malala - we failed to honour you....
Pakistan never honoured Dr Salam, how they can honour you.. sorry
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Nov 18, 2014 10:00pm
Pakistan needs Nobel prizes in Science, technology and economics.
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Nov 18, 2014 10:18pm
She is minting money being outside of Pakistan. If Malala is so interested for girls' education in Pakistan, she must come back and start a movement herself. Statements from foreign countries are meaningless and will not change any thing.
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Nov 18, 2014 10:32pm
@irfan Not "his" study......"her studies". Probably thats why she wants people to go to school more....
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Nov 18, 2014 10:39pm
@Aryan please please don't compare Dr. Abdussalam to Malala. One was a genius and contributed to science and society before being nominated. And the other is an innocent puppet who is cashed by her cunning father and some western folks. And please don't start yelling me as I am a religious fanatic or an extremist. Its mine and alot of educated and progressive Pakistani's opinion. We are done with this whole drama and can't take it anymore
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Nov 18, 2014 10:42pm
@weq dear main point is school is in dismal condition and new building is necessary because building can collapse at any time
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Nov 18, 2014 10:49pm
@Indian Christian every time there is an article about Pakistan, there you are blabbing your mouth. Few days back, there was an article about women deaths in India due to lack of sterilization, not single comments I saw from you. Why don't you stop bashing Pakistan and get off their band wagon.
If you have any suggestions, creative ideas by all means share. Constructive criticism is also welcome. But what you doing is, only spreading hatred.
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Nov 18, 2014 10:50pm
Girl of the decade....hats off to malala ...best of luck in future
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Nov 18, 2014 11:07pm
I didn't even read the article, just the headlines...but Malala has failed to realized that there people in Pakistan, who got no food to eat, or have clean drinking water, and yet let alone getting education. Malala, you are a Western propaganda...and many people have failed to understand that....Good luck.
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Nov 18, 2014 11:33pm
@Qamar Conspiracies, conspiracies, conspiracies. give us a break.
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Nov 18, 2014 11:49pm
@Waqar Khan dude, you seriously need help. She might be Western Propaganda now and maybe that is why you know her. Who knew her when she was struggling for education, or when she got shot.
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Nov 19, 2014 12:42am
Please go back and fight for.
Take your parents with u too. You r a courageous girl.
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Nov 19, 2014 12:49am
@Imran Hahah exactly, what i thought. She will now address the gathering via telephone.
this girl ain't loyal.
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Nov 19, 2014 12:50am
This girl ain't loyal.
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Nov 19, 2014 12:54am
@Gordon D Walker This is exactly what more than half the population has been saying all along. I am sure that you must have read or heard all the theories about this Malala hoopla.
She is advocating girl's education in Pakistan and has been telling the world that women deprived of education in our country. If you visit Calgary, you'll find plenty of women who are practicing medicine or contributing to the engineering field and lot of other professions.
I agree that women are deprived of education in a lot of rural areas and may be a few urban areas, but it is more due to culture than Islam. The message delivered by Malala is baseless at the best!
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Nov 19, 2014 12:55am
I like to see thousands of Malala like girls in India who can fight against patriarchal backward ideologies.
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Nov 19, 2014 12:58am
Come back home and ask UK/US to provide VVIP security in Sawat.
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Nov 19, 2014 12:59am
Another Altaf bhai in the making...
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Nov 19, 2014 01:08am
every one has set his own yard to measure the strength and personality of other.follow reality at least our country is recognized with honor of noble prize due to her.one thing more just giving statement for implement of education in pakistan will not change the future of pakistani come to our land pakistan and lead us toward progress,education, and enlightment if not you can do so than keep your ideas with yourself no more put oil on our burning soule
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Nov 19, 2014 01:10am
Great message from a one of the most prominent young Pakistani in the world today. She is a big education campaigner for all. For any nation to succeed, education for its children is the key. No one can deny that. Pakistan needs its younger citizens, who comprise more that seventy percent of the population, to get education. The United States supports the cause of education in Pakistan and hopes it will be possible for all children to seek education soon.
Abdul Quddus
DET - U.S. Central Command
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Nov 19, 2014 02:28am
@Sher .....I agree with you wholeheartedly. There can be no comparison between Dr Abdus Salam who won the Nobel prize in physics and Malala.
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Nov 19, 2014 02:53am
@Qamar Are you going to be her body guard dude when she comes to Pakistan? I agree that she should be in her own country, but when her own country cannot provide her with protection, how can you really blame her for being abroad? She just donated her proceeds from Nobel prize for kids education.
Would you have done the same if you had won such a lucrative award?
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Nov 19, 2014 02:56am
To all the people who hate here, I have only one question. What is wrong with what she is saying?
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Nov 19, 2014 03:23am
@ABDUL RAZAQUE Yes, I will be proud to help your school. I hereby pledge 100,000 Pkr ( a modest amount) from the Gordon D.Walker Celebration of the Written Arts Award 2014. How do I get this money to you? Perhaps the good people at Dawn might do a newspaper article about this. I could wire them the money. They in turn could give it to you. The publicity generated may encourage others to help you educate the children your school serves.
God bless you for serving your country in such a positive fashion.
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Nov 19, 2014 03:29am
@abbas Salam won nobel prize in Physics. What you did with him? So it is time to respect Malala. Although some comments are pretty logical we need her work right now from her own valley and province. She doesn't need to care what the rest of the Pakistan think. She should bring new projects for female education.
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Nov 19, 2014 04:42am
Mental case
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Nov 19, 2014 05:28am
Marry me Malala. So I can also be popular like you, overnight.
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Nov 19, 2014 05:28am
@ABDUL RAZAQUE And what are you doing in the mean time to help the situation? BE THE CHANGE YOU WANT TO SEE IN THE WORLD!
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Nov 19, 2014 05:32am
@weq Both the lab and the lav can be used for 'experiments.'
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Nov 19, 2014 05:35am
@Imran / Qamar. if she comes to Pakistan, someone like you will shoot her. It doesn't t matter if someone is a child, or a female or old women. All they do accuse her of blasphemy or a foreign agent and kill her.
She's only asking people to study and knows the value of education. What did you achieve in life that deserves any value or appreciation. Merely growing a huge beard or praying 5 times a day or shooting dead some one won't make you religious or forcing someone to pray or wearing hijab/burqa or blowing won't make you religious Muslim.
Try to be compassionate to fellow humans. This is what is missing in Pakistan when people like show no sympathy to a young girl shot in the head by savages in the name of Islam. There are 1000's of mosques, and find large numbers (May be almost 75%) wearing hi jabs or a beards, but it's just a show or religious ness. Most of the people are corrupt, less honest & more militant.
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Nov 19, 2014 05:38am
@Gordon D Walker :
Mr. Walker, you sound like a cry baby! Malala is just 17+; give her a break for not doing this or that. Malala is doing what she can with her busy schedule that includes full time school!! Nice of you to offer to come to Malala but what is this nonsense about "her Mansion" they live in a modest home. Stop manipulating things. Maybe Malala is right for not interested in your award. You seem to me an opportunists and a manipulator.
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Nov 19, 2014 06:07am
Reading Pakistani comments here in this forum & listening to their views, I understand how militant Pakistani Muslims have become. There are educated Muslims who carry such a strong dislike, instead of compassion, for a girl who's shot in the head. If this is condition of western educated, then what would be the mindset of the majority who are uneducated, and worse still, the mindset of madrasah educated people. There's absolutely know doubt that the education system has failed in Pakistan because all it thought is hatred. Hatred towards other religions, other sects (Ahmediyas/Shias), mixing Religion with nationalism even though Islam does not subscribe to nationalism, and using Islam for political purposes. Another shining example of failed education is Sartaz Aziz, who made a distinction between good & bad terrorist. & most Pakistani will support this idea. Mixing of Religion, Education, Politics is a deadly cocktail & when it's fed generation after generation, for 10-15 years of education, it gets deeply ingrained.
This is why Pakistan has become a failed state and ranks 3rd in the global terror index.
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Nov 19, 2014 06:17am
@Gordon D Walker You're just a troll. I could tell you exactly where to locate your award but Dawn won't publish it.
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Nov 19, 2014 07:13am
While i consider being enthusiastic with Malala to be okay i still do hope that we don't forget the 1971 criticisms of Ivan Illich, Anarchist, in "Deschooling Society."
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Nov 19, 2014 10:54am
@Vijay (Toronto) Pakistani Nation looks at others for change, now a days the entire natioN has eyes on Imran Khan and Malala
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Nov 19, 2014 11:21am
@Indian Christian She made you all proud and her own put to shame
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Nov 19, 2014 11:22am
@ABDUL RAZAQUE Malala didn't wake up to your call now you are calling Mr. Walker, please ask Imran Khan or better clean the mess yourself
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Nov 20, 2014 05:12am
It is my wish, as previously stated, to help Abdul Razaque (who requested my aid) to repair his school. I can not do this unless I am given a contact e- mail address. If the good people at Dawn can assist, or if Abdul Razaque gets this message, please let me know.
Thank you.
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Nov 20, 2014 06:13pm
Amazing how easy it is to brainwash people. Women in Pakistan have full rights and millions of Pakistani women go to school everyday and are encouraged to do so. Malala is a pawn used to make Islam and Pakistan look bad when the people from the country know that she's a fraud. The fact that she was a given a nobel prize for going to school is ridiculous.
They try to call it a patriarchal society while a woman was recently the Prime Minister..... still shocking how many people buy this trash.
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Nov 20, 2014 10:58pm
U are great malala sis. We can fight with a pen & book to taliban.
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