Being Malala
Being Malala
Part I
Mingora, a
small town in the Swat district of Pakistan, was the Paradise on the Earth. But
it was the past. It was the past when people in the town meet and have tea in
the corner tea stall to discuss various issues, where small kids would be
running and playing without any inhibitions in their minds. It was past when
women were roaming freely in the vegetable markets of the city, bargaining with
vendors. It became past when Taliban’s evil mind entered into the city and
destroyed everything. The peace of the village was ruined and turned into
terror and fear.
A small brain of
11 years was observing everything. A little girl from Mingora who was very fond
of studies was observing everything that was happening in her hometown. Unlike
other children of her age, she wanted to protest and to raise her voice against
all the evils happening in Swat. It was late 2008, when Aamer Ahmed Khan of BBC Urdu, was trying to cover the influence of
Taliban in the Swat valley, in his own creative style. He was searching for a
school child, who could blog anonymously about their life and situations in the
Swat region. The little girl’s father, Ziauddin aka Zia, was in touch with the BBC
Urdu correspondents in Peshawar and was helping them in their search but none were
willing to do so. The parents were scared of the Taliban militants and were
afraid that if they stood up, they would be killed. Finally, Zia suggested that
his daughter could help. The brave girl took her first step of revolt and
started writing blogs for the BBC Urdu Service under a pseudonym, ‘Gul Makai’
as they were concerned for her safety too. She mentioned the increasing
military activities in her village, and about her fears that her school would
be attacked by the Taliban military.
By this time, the
terror of Taliban militants have increased and they were ruining the Swat
valley, distressingly. Policemen were beheaded and hanged in town squares.
Music, education, television everything
was banned. She wrote handwritten notes about Tabilan’s influence in the town.
Then those notes were handed over to a reporter who scanned and emailed the
notes to BBC Urdu. Her first blog was posted to the BBC Urdu blog on 3rd
of January, 2009. It thrilled the world and Taliban leaders were in the shock.
They were confused that how the outside world is aware of their activities in
the Swat valley. Taliban reflected their furious reaction over the blog on 15th
January 2009 by setting an edict that no
girl would attend school from now. Since then, the girls of Swat were banned to
receive education and their right to
education was slashed. Her struggle for education, peace and life had already begun.
The biggest support for her in the struggle was her father, Ziauddin, who ran a
school near to their residence which supported their lives for the last
fourteen years. Their school was also under the threat of Taliban militants, as hundreds of girls’
schools were blown up by them.
Every other
moment, the residents of the valley have a fear that whether they would see the
next sunset or sunrise, and their family would be safe or not.
To be continued....
(The next part of the story will be coming soon....)
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