In November 2011, a 13-year-old Pakistani girl’s nomination for the International Children’s Peace Prize made the entire country’s children proud. Malala Yousafzai, an eighth grade student was one of the five nominees chosen out of 98 children from 42 countries for the award presented to ‘a child whose courageous or otherwise remarkable acts have made a difference in countering problems which affect children around the world.’
When Taliban militants unleashed brutality on the residents of Swat in 2009, Yousafzai, then in grade five, like many other children was deeply affected. She recounts the horror of those days: “Bodies were hung in the bazaars and public places, sometimes upside down. Women became widows. Children became orphans.
“Heads of persons killed were put on sticks and used as a way to scare girls away from schools. Girls were traumatised. More than 400 schools were torched, of which 99 per cent were girls’ schools,” recounts Yousafzai as she spoke to Dawn via telephone from her home in Mingora, Swat District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
“In 2004 Taliban started their broadcast on religious teaching/ preaching. Then they slowly started propaganda against girls’ education, saying girls who go to school will burn in hell. Their preaching convinced many of the women folk of Swat who were induced to give away their jewellery, valuables and even their sons to become suicide bombers. Every house has a story and every story is worse than the first,” she recalls.
It was against this scenario that Yousafzai first voiced concern regarding girls’ education to the world outside Swat. In January 2009 she started communicating with the BBC Urdu Service. Narrating the happenings of the day over the telephone, Yousafzai, under the pseudonym of ‘Gul Makai’, would share the feelings and sentiments of her friends and classmates over the closure of girls’ schools; this programme was aired under the title of ‘Swat Ki Aik Taliba Ki Diary’(The diary of a student in Swat). She also told the tale of the suffering of displaced people who shifted to Shangla when the government launched a military operation to purge Swat of militants.
Although Yousafzai did not win the International Children’s Peace Prize, today she is more adamant, encouraged and determined than ever.
Is she still afraid or scared? “If I was not afraid then, why now? Yes, we were shocked and terrorised, but I overcame my fears when I realised that Swat women helped the militants because they lacked education. Many of the Taliban in my own village were former students. They torched schools because the Taliban convinced them to do so,” she opined.
“Yes we have peace since the military operations by the Pakistan army cleaned Swat of the Taliban, but it has left Swat dilapidated. Besides, due to the floods, the infrastructure has collapsed. Tourism has been badly hit. We need to preserve our archaeological sites. The promises made to us need to be fulfilled.” Taliban’s campaign against girl’s education was an eye opener for her, before which she ‘did not realise the importance of education’. “I studied hard and got good grades without actually understanding the value of education and what it gives — the sense to judge right from wrong.
“I will not stop now. I will continue to speak for girls who are deprived of education. Especially, for children who work as domestic servants and those who want to go to school but their families cannot afford it. She plans to achieve this by setting up the Malala Education Foundation. She plans to play an active role in politics after completing her education.
The eldest of her siblings, the little girl had full support from her father, Ziauddin Yousafzai who ‘never stopped her, even against the fear of Taliban or on security grounds. She has two brothers, Khushal, 12, and eight-year-old, Atal Khan.
In December last year, the Pakistan government awarded Yousafzai the ‘National Peace Prize of Pakistan’, making her the first child to be honoured by Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani.