Malala - a patriot or a ...?

Malala Yousafzai was a normal teenager, who was shot in the head and neck by the Taliban in the Swat district in an assassination attempt in 2012. Why was there an attempt to assassinate a 16-year old? Because she was an educational and women rights' activist. 

The Taliban shot her and two of her friends while they were returning home. Malala was hospitalised and was in a very critical condition. After her condition stabilised a little, she was sent to UK for intensive rehabilitation, where she remains up to this day. From there, she gives hope to all the women and children of Pakistan who are suffering under the Taliban regime and supports them and asks the world to raise their voices in favour of education. 

Malala can be seen as a perfect example of a young child, who even after going through physical and mental trauma, has not given up her stance on women getting educated. On her 16th Birthday, she presented a speech on the need for education and how women should be treated equally in this aspect. The day was named Malala Day in her favour and every child in Pakistan, and worldwide, knows her name. 

All that is good. Education is the right of every child and every women must be treated equally with respect to day-to-day matters. However, recently Malala has given the statement that she agrees that the negotiations with Taliban must commence as soon as possible and that war should be answered with peace. While she is correct in stating that peace is indeed the right way to handle most matters, however, it does NOT in any way apply to the Taliban. Malala should know that better than anyone else. 

Taliban are not someone who will negotiate easily. They will only negotiate to one thing - that Pakistan be ruled by them and be ruled how the Taliban want it to be ruled. That basically means saying goodbye to women rights, saying goodbye to recreational centres, mobile phones, etc. Anything that will be considered unIslamic according to their thinking would be banned. Beards would become mandatory and so would Hijabs. While some may consider that a good thing, these appearances are of no use if the person is forced into them. Right now, we're frustrated at the YouTube ban. If the Talibans get to rule, they would just ban the whole internet. 

There is also another approach to this. The Taliban let the political leaders rule the way they're ruling with one exception - every unIslamic person (Shia, Ahmadi, Christian, Jew, Hindu, atheist) would either be forced to leave the country or would be killed. No minority would be safe and they'd all be running under cover. This is how Pakistan, sorry Talibanistan, would look like should peace talks be carried on. But I digress. 

Today, I hear another statement about Malala aspiring to be a politician. When I heard this, all I could think of was - beta aap ki umar kya hai? (Child, how old are you?) She's 16. I completely agree with her supporting education and women rights, but a politician? She needs to complete her education first, the main thing that she is actually standing on, and if she wants something to do afterwards, she can work, she can do so much, but politics? Does she really think of herself to be as smart and cunning and evil and sly as all our politicians? Does she know how to even enter into this game of politics? She's just a child, shouldn't her parents be knocking some sense into her?

Malala is now known worldwide. Every person knows her name, she is the inspiration of many women in Pakistan who aren't strong enough to stand up for themselves. What image is she then portraying to the whole world of trying to negotiate with those inhumane people who kill people thinking it's their right and they're acting on the word of God, by killing innocent people? How does she expect people to love her if she agrees that Taliban can be negotiated with? How does she expect Pakistan to survive with this?

We are all entitled to our opinions. I'm entitled to mine, just as Malala is entitled to hers. But instead of saying some words to please some higher power, or to try and make herself popular, is not going to work for her or anyone else in the long run. I don't know if someone exercises some power over her or if she is making such stupid statements out of her own mind, but she needs to think long and hard before she makes statements like this again. People are already starting to think she's a fake, they're going to start defaming her completely soon. 

On a lighter note though, I've heard she mentioned something about liking Justin Bieber. Talk about loving horrible music. Someone should give her some good music to listen to, maybe that might help in knocking some sense into her. 

Oh well.