MALALA Yousafzai’s eloquent speech at the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony in Oslo on Wednesday was indeed a proud moment for this country.

The teenager from Swat, who was shot by religiously-motivated militants in 2012 and shared this year’s prize with Indian child rights activist Kailash Satyarthi, has set a commendable example through her activism and commitment to the cause of education.

After all, she is only the second Nobel laureate from Pakistan — Dr Abdus Salam being the other — and the youngest in history to win the prestigious prize. However, despite the fact that Malala has been feted around the world, Pakistan, both at the state and public level, has failed to acknowledge this brave girl.

Also read: Malala awarded Nobel Peace Prize

For example, while some in Pakistan have praised her efforts, a significant body of opinion is either indifferent to her achievements, or bears outright animus towards her. There is irresponsible talk of a ‘conspiracy’ cooked up to defame Islam and Pakistan by honouring the young activist.

This is the unfortunate reality of Pakistan, where we tend to either ignore or run down genuine heroes. Take the case of Dr Abdus Salam. Despite being a scientist of international repute, he remains an unsung hero in Pakistan simply because he was an Ahmadi.

He has been wiped clean, it seems, from the national consciousness. We are not ready to own the great man or his achievements, an attitude that is showing signs of being repeated in Malala’s case.

What is there to disagree with in the young laureate’s message? Our state of public education is in a shambles, while extremists have done everything possible to destroy educational infrastructure in parts of the country.

It is also a fact that Islamist militants in other states, such as the dreaded Boko Haram in Nigeria, have launched similar attacks on education.

Malala told the media before the ceremony that she was ‘disappointed’ the prime ministers of Pakistan and India would not be attending the event.

Indeed, if Nawaz Sharif was unable to attend, a bipartisan parliamentary delegation from Pakistan should have gone to Oslo to participate in the ceremony. That would have sent a strong message — that the state is proud of the young activist from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and that it is serious about supporting her mission of promoting quality education to counter obscurantism.

Our treatment of Dr Salam was unforgivable; let us make a fresh start and own Malala’s achievements to show the world Pakistan values such brave voices.

Published in Dawn, December 11th, 2014