‘Hate’ is a strong word. But the sentiment or emotion or the state of mind it is meant to reflect is sometime stronger, uglier and far more poisonous than many of us can imagine.

When the object of such hate, no matter which angle one chooses to look at it from, has clearly done nothing to be at the receiving end of such poisonous sentiment, it is natural for the ‘normal, sane’ mind to be numb with disbelief, to ask why.

Before you accuse me of trying to philosophise when I am a mere columnist, let me get to the point. Someone pointed out on social media that in a span of barely 24 months Pakistani women have brought home an Oscar, an Emmy, an Asian Gold, Officier de la Légion d’Honneur and, the icing on the cake, a Nobel prize.

The news that we had produced the world’s first teenage Nobel prize winner was greeted by so many with some of the most shameful reactions possible.

Normally, any nation’s pride would have been unimaginable at such remarkable feats by its proud daughters. In our case even more so when our current claim to fame around the world primarily owes itself to terrorism, bigotry, intolerance and the most appalling attitudes towards religious, sectarian and ethnic minorities, and women.

But we remain without parallel. Really. Rather than receive the news as a welcome respite from the ugly reality of blood and gore, of a society rich with discrimination against each person who can be discriminated against, and applaud, what do we do?

Well, where expressions of regret, even shame, at some of the worst crimes against vulnerable groups remain largely conspicuous by their absence, the unprecedented news that we had produced the world’s first teenage Nobel prize winner, was greeted by so many of us with some of the most shameful reactions possible.

Sadly, even though these reactions were unbelievably outrageous, these may not have been entirely surprising for all they did was echo the many voices that even questioned if Malala Yousafzai had ever been shot in the head when the young girl first survived the Taliban hitman’s bullet.

The doubters still adhere to their unfounded positions and choose to remain blind to the physical manifestations of the shooting that Malala’s young face carries for all to see but the blindly adamant ones.

The selection process of Nobel Peace Prize winners is often subjective and debatable. When it goes to a Nelson Mandela, there isn’t a murmur of disagreement. When it has gone to leaders many hold responsible for calamitous and bloody wars disagreement would always be in evidence.

But to debate and argue is one thing. To demonise a teenage compatriot, who serves as a beacon to many young girls at home and abroad and is not controversial at all, is akin to a crime worthy of contempt. There is no other way to describe it but a sentiment rooted in hatred. All the proud, young Pakhtun has ever stood for is the right to education for girls/women.

Her detractors, driven by what can only be described as outright misogyny or worse still a totally misplaced understanding of what they call their faith, have even manufactured quotes they feverishly peddle on media and social media attempting to show she has taken issue with fundamental principles of Islam when, in fact, the teenager is an avowed practising Muslim.

Her father, for whom I have the utmost respect for supporting his daughter and, in her words, for “not clipping my wings”, has been called all sorts of names including a Western agent, a man who has sold his heart and soul for the greenback and what not.

One commentator went to the extent of saying Malala had actually been given the prize because she was part of a plan to “demonise those resisting American hegemony” in the region. Of course, the commentator’s faith-inspired intellect couldn’t allow him to ask how shooting a school-going Pakistani girl is resisting US hegemony. For, wasn’t her desire to educate herself at the root of her troubles?

Although I’d like to believe — and many fair, decent readers would — that such sentiment reflects fringe opinion, it does not. One has seen such conspiracy theories being peddled as much by frustrated young men on the social media, as they have been in evidence on the ‘mainstream’ media.

Our media is ‘free’ in many good ways. But it is heart-breaking to see it free of a code of conduct and/or any ethical standards, so that any malicious allegation can be presented as unchallenged fact and believed as such by the audience.

Once in the public domain such ‘facts’ are quickly embraced and parroted to a point that when someone tries to question these, they are accused of exactly the same kind of betrayal that many believe the teenaged Malala is guilty of.

It is pointless to repeatedly harp on how we got here. It is far more important to find a way out of this quicksand we seem stuck in. How can one be hopeful when for many young male Malala-haters it appears but a short hop to embracing Islamic State-type ideology?

Tomorrow holds little promise when national politics has descended into an often nasty blame game, and calls for accountability and justice, which must be at the heart of a democratic, pluralistic society, have fallen on deaf ears for so long that many have now converted to vigilantism or dispensation of ‘justice’ by lynch mobs.

It’s a sign of utter resignation that even those of us who greet and own Malala as our proud daughter can’t advise her to return home, as she says she longs to. We’d rather she is safe even if it means inspiring a generation of girls from afar.

The writer is a former editor of Dawn.

abbas.nasir@hotmail.com

Published in Dawn, October 18th, 2014