Will There Be Another Malala?

The 2014 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded jointly to Malala Yousafzai, a Pakistani girl, and Kailash Satyarthi, an Indian social reformer, for “their struggle against the oppression of children and adolescents, and for the right of children to education.” These days we are reliving the young girl’s story. Malala Yousafzai became famous when she began attacking and exposing the atrocities committed by Islamic militants who controlled the Swat Valley in northwest Pakistan, where she lived. Under the Taliban’s control, the turbaned militants burned schools, banned girls’ education, forced women to wear burqas, and turned the colorful Swat Valley into a colorless valley. In 2012, a Taliban gunman shot Malala in the head for defying the Taliban and exposing their crimes One bullet hit her directly above her left eye. The Taliban was proud of the act. A Taliban spokesman, Ehsanullah Ehsan, stated that “Malala was shot because she was a secular girl, and this should be taken as a warning to other young people like her.” The stories Malala recounted in her journal are telling of the atrocities committed by the Taliban and what life under the Taliban’s control was like. “Today, our teacher asked us not to wear brightly colored clothes because it might irritate the Taliban,” her diary reads one day. “On my way to school today, my friend asked me to cover my head properly, otherwise the Taliban will punish us,” another entry reads. The stories go on and on. The Taliban may claim that it has changed its ways, but Malala’s stories are a stark reminder of the atrocities committed by the group in the past. Many hope that the Taliban will act differently in Afghanistan. Something tells me this is highly questionable. – Abdul Latif Al-Manawi (translated by Asaf Zilberfarb)