Malala Yousafzai : Pakistan's Wake Up Call

Pakistan, long being considered a hot bed of terrorism, has been issued a serious wake up call. An assassination attempt on an innocent 14 year old girl, Malala Yousafzai, by the Taliban has managed to galvanise Pakistan and make it realise one thing very clearly - Terrorism and Taliban are bad.

Just 5 days back, on 9th October 2012, Malala, all of 15 years old was travelling in her school bus back home, when it was stopped by the Taliban extremists. A masked gunman entered her school bus and shouted, "Which one of you is Malala? Speak up, otherwise I will shoot you all."

Brave Malala Yousafzai

The brave girl that she was, Malala identified herself to save her fellow students. The shameless terrorist shot at her - once on her forehead and once in her neck. This left her seriously injured and even today, she continues to battle for her life.

What on this earth prompted these weak hearted terrorists to make a deliberate assassination attempt on an innocent teenager school girl? 

The Taliban looked to be scared about the blogs written by Malala and the negative publicity it was bringing to them. Malala was a social blogger on the internet and she would write about her life in the Swat Valley, under the terror of Taliban, on a BBC Page. You can catch up with her blog entries right here.

Her blog entry makes you realise the difficulties being faced by children in Pakistan - courtesy the terrorism and Taliban. Some excerpts from her blog are right below.

~~

My friend came to me and said, 'for God's sake, answer me honestly, is our school going to be attacked by the Taliban?' ..

I heard my father talking about another three bodies lying at Green Chowk (crossing). I felt bad on hearing this news...

The night was filled with the noise of artillery fire and I woke up three times...

O God bring peace to Swat and if not then bring either the US or China here...

~~ 

It were these blog entries which frightened off the Taliban and propelled them to make this horrific attack on Malala. This attack has made one thing clear - the Taliban are cowards.

Malala Yousafzai and more like her

Malala, with her frank opinion pieces, won several awards over the past few years. She won the International Children's Peace Prize in 2011. She was also awarded the Pakistan's National Youth Peace Prize. She was a reflection of the need peace in Pakistan.

The Taliban spokesmen said the attack on Malala  "is the symbol of the infidels and obscenity." How wrong are they? Do they know that this attack will wipe them out?

Hina Rabbani Khar, a bright lady, who is also Pakistan's Foreign Minister made the following remark. 

Hina Rabbani Khar

"Today, for us (Pakistan), it (attack on Malala) could be possibly a turning point. I would keep my fingers crossed on that. And what we have in front of us is a war between two different sets of futures, one that Malala Yousafzai represents, a bright, young, dynamic girl who fought for her right to education and the right to live as a normal citizen. And the other, which is trying to be imposed by this particular band, which is that of an extremist sort and of a terrorist sort."

"In Pakistan today, Malala Yousafzai has probably done what many military operations could also not achieve. She has put it as a black-and-white question. She's put it as either you're with the future that she represents or you are with the future that they are trying to impose. And what you see is only fringe elements who are trying to justify it"

"This is a wake-up call, to not only people in Pakistan, but people all over the world, that we have a clear and present danger in terms of people who choose to use violence as means to, you know, follow whatever they consider to be their agenda. To what extent they will go they have revealed in this particular incident."

Although this blog is for Malala, let me add that Hina Khar is a lady with a lot of promise. She speaks her mind, and has the ability to take decisions. Make her the Prime Minister of Pakistan, and I am sure that the the Taliban will pee in their pants. Their days would be up soon.

As for Malala, she is a brave girl. A very brave girl. She fights for her life today and we pray that she survives and comes out stronger. 

I am sure she will inspire Pakistan to days of glory, where the terrorists and Taliban are wiped out and ever lasting peace is the order of the day.