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firewall Armed with
computers Yeh
Woh Politics
of obfuscation Sceptic’s
Diary
We are sorry, Malala
firewall It has been over a month
since the popular video-sharing website, YouTube, was blocked in Pakistan (on
Sept 17) on the orders of the prime minister of Pakistan. The current status
is that the controversial video, which was the cause of this ban and the
civil unrest in the country, is still there on YouTube and the parties —
the Pakistan government and the Google — are far from resolving the
dispute. The stalemate exists in
Pakistan, while in other countries such as Egypt, India, Malaysia, Turkey and
Indonesia the same video has been removed from the website. The question that
comes to one’s mind is: why cannot the website do the same in Pakistan
where people are emotionally more charged and risks of violence are higher
than anywhere else? Are the company’s stakes
not as high in Pakistan as they are in the above-mentioned countries or is it
simply a matter of jurisdiction? And are the allegations true that Google
which owns YouTube does not pay any taxes to the Pakistan government despite
making millions in advertising revenues in the country. The country consultant of
Google in Pakistan was not accessible as he is apparently keeping a low
profile and avoiding interaction with media after the YouTube episode. The
only reply that came for his side was an email saying he was abroad and had
limited access to internet. However, a source who has
worked closely with Google in Pakistan and even booked ads for the search
engine, tells TNS they do not book any ads for YouTube as it is not
registered in Pakistan. The source, which does not want to be disclosed, adds
Google is registered in Pakistan and it does earn advertising revenues here
but it is not binding on it to pay taxes to the government as per rules of
business done over internet. The source asserts as the
payments for ads are made through credit cards, the responsibility lies with
the clients to disclose the transaction details to the home governments. The stakes, the source
discloses, are definitely high keeping in view the internet usage trends and
the increasing number of users in the country. It is estimated, there are 22
million internet users in Pakistan. In the words of Jana Levene,
Google’s Head of Emerging Market Development, Southeast Asia, who visited
Pakistan last month: “Twenty-two million internet users is a huge number.
It’s more than Australia’s whole population. That’s why we are here”.
Out of these, there are seven million Facebook users, one million twitter
users and 1.2 million LinkedIn users. Mac Warburton, another
member of the team, presented a breakup of the approximately 8 million
queries which are searched on daily basis on Google Pakistan search engine (www.google.com.pk)
by Pakistanis. Twenty-five per cent of these searches come from mobile phone
users who want to know about calling and SMS packages, prices of handsets
etc. Shahzad Ahmad, Country
Director Bytes for All (B4A), a rights organisation with a focus on
information and communication technologies, told TNS YouTube’s business
model revolves around advertising. “The more the users view a video, the
more an advertisement shall be seen.” Advertisements, he said,
come in several forms including side ads, promoted videos and video ads
playing before the actual video starts. The pricing for ads varies as videos
belonging to channels with more subscribers are expected to be more
expensive. YouTube also live streams popular events such as presidential
debates and sports matches. He suggested the best way
to handle this situation currently for individuals and activist organisations
is to continue their activism and campaigning by protesting and challenging
the government’s decision and offering reason and other less harmful
alternatives as compared to blanket bans. On another note, while B4A
is completely against blanket bans and censorship of information and
expression, in a compromising situation, the best alternative would be to
have official representation of YouTube in Pakistan so the government can
request for specific videos to be removed as a country specific exception, he
added. Ahmad is not against
freedom of expression but he believes cultural sensitivities are also a
reality. “Sharing of a video of girls dancing in a pub in the West may be a
totally harmless act. But sharing a clip of Pakistani girls singing at a
family function in Kohistan can bring death sentence for them.” According to Pakistan
Telecommunication Authority (PTA) sources, the organisation is in talk with
Google to register YouTube in Pakistan the way it is in Turkey. Right now
Google wants to operate in Pakistan through regional offices, such as in
Singapore, to avoid various kinds of legal obligations. Turkey has succeeded in
making YouTube to reside in Turkey, operate under com.tr domain and abide by
the country’s laws. The decision comes after the order of a Turkish court
which asked authorities to block access to the objectionable video last
month. In fact, Turkey has been
facing similar situations for long. In May 2008, the Turkish government
blocked access to YouTube for 30 months after users posted videos about
Mustafa Kemal Ataturk which the government found insulting. Fouad Bajwa, an IT
professional, internet rights researcher and advisor to multilateral settings
on issues related to Internet Public Policy and Internet Governance, said
most of the internet giants and corporations base their business around
offering their service as ‘freemium’, gradually increasing unique traffic
and then encouraging website visitors to join as subscribers. This further moves towards
lead generation, affiliate marketing, some form of royalties etc. He believed
Google primarily makes money from YouTube through demographically targeted
advertising, customised to device type and the region the website traffic is
coming from. Similarly, he said if you
upload a video on YouTube without violating any audio, video or patents, you
get a share of the advertisement revenue on the basis of the number of times
your video was viewed. Viral videos like that of Ali Gul Peer’s song
“Waderay Ka Beta” or “Howzat” may be one of the few examples in
Pakistan that actually make money, Bajwa added. He suggested that foreign
commercial information intermediaries should be regulated and directed by the
government of Pakistan to open up their offices in Pakistan, place their
staff on the ground here and register their presence with the Securities and
Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP) so that they abide by local laws and
are also accountable. If this happens, YouTube
will not be able to simply state what it did in this film’s case. It
stated, “This video — which is widely available on the web — is clearly
within our guidelines and so will stay on YouTube. However, given the very
difficult situation in Libya and Egypt, we have temporarily restricted access
there.”
Armed
with computers To bring the
Federally Administered Tribal Areas (Fata) technologically at par with other
parts of the country, the government recently launched its first
informational technology policy for the area. This policy for Fata is
aimed at promoting IT education and ensuring good governance — by putting
in place a system to check and ensure accountability of the political
administration and other government functionaries. It is said to be the
brainchild of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor Barrister Masood Kausar as he
wanted to give an opportunity to the educated people of Fata to stay in touch
with the outside world through internet. Additional Chief Secretary
Dr Tashfeen formally launched the IT policy at the Fata Secretariat in
Peshawar a few days back and termed it vital for economic growth and
promotion of education in Fata. The government will
initially implement the IT policy in government offices and public sector
colleges across the tribal areas by providing computers and installing the
internet facilities. Though the tribesmen and
particularly the tribal youth welcomed this initiative of the government, the
government officials based in the tribal areas believe that foreign militant
organisations operating in the border areas between Pakistan and Afghanistan
have technologically savvy people in different fields and once the IT
facilities are provided to them in Fata, it will enable them to develop
liaison with other militant outfits in Pakistan and abroad. Also, they feel it will
enhance the capability of militant groups in formulating their future plans
and learning skills about modern techniques used in the present day warfare. “In terms of IT resources
in Fata, the militant groups are more high-tech than the government
departments,” a government official based in Khyber Agency said on
condition of anonymity. Senior government officials
said the policy will be first launched as a pilot project in offices of the
political administration and colleges in the seven tribal regions — Bajaur
Agency, Mohmand Agency, Khyber Agency, Kurram Agency, Orakzai Agency, North
Waziristan Agency and South Waziristan Agency. In the next stage, the
facility will be extended to the civil population of Fata. Security situation in Fata
is not satisfactory due to a host of reasons. The government has carried out
military operations in all the seven tribal regions and in some places the
armed forces are still engaged in fighting against the militants. However, Fazlullah Khan,
Director Information Fata Secretariat, said they will ensure the militants do
not benefit from the IT facilities extended to the tribal areas. Talking to TNS, he said the
facility will be provided to the government offices and public sector
colleges on priority basis and, after creating a suitable environment for
investment, the government will engage the private sector. He said the rapid
development of Information & Communication Technology (ICT)
infrastructure and trained workforce will transform Fata into a prosperous
and dynamic region of Pakistan. “We will encourage and
assist the entrepreneurial spirit, and make the fruits of this technology
available to the residents of Fata,” Fazlullah Khan said. He said the government will
establish a modern, efficient and cost-effective ICT infrastructure in Fata
to provide equitable access to national and international markets. “The
government will also develop a pool of trained ICT professionals to meet
local and regional demand for services.” Khan said the government
will use ICT to promote transparency, efficiency and effectiveness in public
administrations and strengthen relations with citizens of tribal areas. Interestingly, the policy
has been launched to promote IT education in Fata and enable the tribespeople
to progress in modern education, but the civil population will not be able to
get any benefit from this facility at the moment. “Due to some reasons, we
cannot extend this facility to the local population at the moment,” the DG
information argued, adding federal laws regarding ICT will be extended to
Fata along with other federal ICT standards.
Islamabad proper is
a hamlet with a spread of ghettos that compares with any cosmopolitan, in
variety if not size. The city is divided into sectors that are neatly carved
identical squares and are named a combination of letters and numbers that
represents the place of the community in the social hierarchy. Currently populated sectors
run from E to I. In common understanding, E is for the moneyed elite; F is
where foreigners are herded together; G provides shelter to the general
public; H stands for health and higher education; and I is for idiots who
live in Rawalpindi but like the residents of DHA phase 1, think they are in
Islamabad. There is also D for dacoits who loot both villagers and the
all-too-willing-to-be-looted CDA and hold up development work. In other
words, dacoits, moneyed elite, foreigners, highly-educated and idiots are the
central characters of this city. This understanding was neat
as long as it worked but is now outdated and needs to change in keeping with
the shifting demographics. Like, for instance, the single largest ethnic
group in Islamabad is now Pakhtun — counting both the Pakistani and Afghan
variety — and not Potohari even if you count the workforce commuting from
Pindi and surrounding areas on a daily basis. The F series has been taken
over by Pakistani politicians, their extended families, and lackeys, who have
benefited the most from democracy and politics of reconciliation. G sectors
are all but out of reach of the common citizen. And E sectors are no more the
exclusive playground of the rich and famous. Down Margalla Road heading
west towards Motorway, you pass E7 which is still fairly posh, thanks to
Imran Khan and his buddy Qazi Hussain Ahmed keeping residence there. Next two
sectors are taken up by navy and air force, and then there is wilderness that
could’ve been army’s new headquarters but for the fact building the
proposed facility would have cost the rest of the country. Further on, a shining new
residential complex springs as if from woodwork. Three-storey houses with
gaudy exteriors, high boundary walls topped with barbed wire, expensive cars
plying shabby and potholed roads, narrow streets made narrower by extended
driveways, children playing cricket or football in trash dumps and swearing
at each other in Pashtu… No, this is not a postcard from Hayatabad, the
posh neighbourhood in Peshawar. It is Islamabad’s sector E11, the only
destination for those seeking affordable rents with a respectable address (E
was for elite, remember?) But the similarities are
striking. Like Hayatabad, E11 is dominated by Pakhtuns whether they are
live-in or absentee landlords who require prospective tenants to furnish two
references from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Both are concrete jungles with every yard
of land used up for commercial purposes, and no relief provided in the shape
of green belts, water bodies, or playing fields. Both are secure communities
because every other home has a weapon or two, that is used liberally during
nocturnal celebrations like chaand raat, milad-un-Nabi, and weddings, and
will come in handy when a fight breaks out, like they frequently do in
Hayatabad. The new sector offers
quaint scenes the rest of Islamabad can never experience: packs of stray dogs
chasing each other and pedestrians, cows sauntering freely on the roads and
grazing in the left over plots, electric cables hanging in front of every
house and transformers blowing up every few days. What makes it more of
Hayatabad than Islamabad is the fact this sector is built as the first
public-private partnership between a few co-operative housing societies and
an equally co-operative CDA. Both have got what they wanted out of this
cooperation — loads of money — and have left the residents to manage
their daily lives as they please. So the trash gets picked up by a donkey
cart, for a price paid by residents. Streets are protected by freelance
guards who show up every month to collect their fee. Shops, kiosks and dhabas
can be set up virtually anywhere, without any permission required from city
management. And the area is free of any building or parking bylaws: you build
what you want to, how you want to, and you park where you wish. Not a single
police officer or a CDA inspector to bother you. What makes it really
not-Islamabad though, is its dry, barren look. This is the only part of the
city that has no trees. So if you can’t afford even the ‘I’ sectors,
don’t bother checking out E11 and instead, consider a two-hour commute from
Peshawar. masudalam@yahoo.com
The attack on
Malala Yousafzai was immediately condemned by almost all sections of the
society. As for the condemnations issued by the political stakeholders,
within days, it became easier to distinguish one from the other. There was
unreserved censure in some cases and qualified condemnation in others. These
were along the lines: why condemn Malala when there were drone victims too;
why Malala and not Lal Masjid victims; the attack was a [US] conspiracy to
launch an attack on North Waziristan and so on. Very few decided to name the
TTP or the Taliban, even when it had immediately claimed responsibility for
the attack. The motives for this
obfuscation could have been many: fear, ideological association or snatching
one another’s anti-American votes ahead of the election. Here we have tried to put
together some responses of the major political stakeholders to give our
readers a sense of how their leaders obfuscate matters and why a consensus
against terrorism is so hard to come by — even when an innocent 14-year-old
girl gets shot in the head. Pakistan People’s Party
(PPP) Chairman PPP Bilawal Bhutto
Zardari, while condemning the attack on Pakistan’s youngest Peace Award
Winner Malala Yousafzai, said that the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) is
enemy of the country, Islam and humanity. He called for all those still
living in denial to wake up and stand united against the threats Pakistan
faces from within. Bilawal Bhutto was the only
leader in the party to have taken a strong public stand against the
assassination of Governor Salmaan Taseer. Prime Minister Raja Pervez
Ashraf said: “I will not allow the future of our children to be endangered
by the militant mindset; the enemies of Pakistan will never be allowed to
succeed. We will uproot this menace of extremism and militancy and will not
surrender the soul of the nation.” Interior Minister Rehman
Malik, while speaking in the Senate, demanded the House to stop using the
word Taliban and replace it with Zaliman (those who commit brutality) through
a motion, declaring the Taliban non-Muslims. Awami National Party (ANP) ANP is one party that has
lost more people in targeted attacks at the hands of terrorists than any
other. In fact, Malala said in a television interview she was inspired by the
struggle of Bacha Khan. ANP chief Asfandyar Wali Khan is reported to have
said after the attack that “the people could not be demoralised through
nefarious activities. Those spreading anarchy and chaos in the country are
the enemies of Pakistan and they have no relations with any ideology or
religion.” The party has shown a resolve to foil such designs in the future
too. Pakistan Muslim League-N In a statement issued from
Lahore, the Sharif bothers said the attackers don’t deserve to be called
humans, terming the attack on “the daughter of the nation”, “cowardly
and disgusting”. Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif said that the intentions of
the nation who have brave daughters like Malala could not be defeated. He said the elements
involved in the assault want to lead the country towards anarchy and
uncertainty, adding that stern action should be taken against them. Mian
Nawaz Sharif also said that the light the young activist lit to end the
darkness of ignorance would not be put out by “this dastardly act of the
miscreants”. Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) MQM chief Altaf Hussain
called it an act of “blatant terrorism” asking for the perpetrators
behind this vile act to be swiftly brought to justice. Speaking to a huge
public meeting called for the purpose at the Jinnah ground in Karachi via
telephone, the MQM Quaid did not mince words when he said: “If we want
Quaid-e-Azam’s Pakistan, we will have to stand up against the Taliban.” He went on to say: “Those
who attacked young Malala are not humans; they are beasts.” Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI)
All eyes were set on what
PTI Chairman Imran Khan, also called ‘Taliban Khan’ by his detractors,
had to say on the matter. He did create the right noises by saying “the PTI
condemns those perpetrating terror attacks” and then “sheer lack of
concern regarding the law and order situation by the current government
resulted in this incident. The party calls for a thorough investigation into
the matter, besides providing the best possible treatment to this brave girl
and the others injured in the attack.” He went to enquire after
Malala’s health while she was in Peshawar, but said something outside the
hospital that led to some serious criticism, even from across the border. He
said that the Afghans’ jihad against the US in their own homeland was
justified. When asked why he did not
name the Taliban as the culprit (a question that was not asked of the Sharif
brothers, one must admit), Imran Khan was honest enough to say that he did
not want to endanger the lives of his party workers working in the area. Having organised a much
talked about rally to oppose the drone strikes a few days before this attack,
the PTI supporters were the first ones to mix up the Malala attack with the
drone victims and thus helped in building up a counter narrative. Pakistan Muslim League-Q (PML-Q) Leader of PML-Q Chaudhry
Shujaat Hussain fell just short of naming the TTP but almost said it in his
statement: “The girl who courageously raised her voice against the Taliban
for education should be named as Pakistan’s Ambassador for Peace and
Education. We condemn the attack on her both nationally and internationally
and the decision to make Malala ambassador would be welcomed globally,
underscoring Pakistan’s commitment to eliminate terrorism.” Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) The JI leaders are quite
clear that the attack on peace activist Malala Yousafzai was a conspiracy
hatched by the US to divert attention from the blasphemy issue and make
ground for launching a military operation by Pakistani security forces in
North Waziristan Agency. Former chief Qazi Hussain
Ahmed said that the attack had no connection with the TTP but it was
conducted to create justification for a military operation in Waziristan
Agency. He is reported to have also said that the TTP spokesman Ahsanullah
Ahsan is only a ‘character’ and the government uses his so-called claims
of terrorist attacks to put a veil on its failure to provide security to
public lives and properties. He is also reported to have
said that declaring US President Barack Obama as a role model could not be
Malala’s own thinking and she was taught to give the statement by NGOs and
governmental officials to attain the US attention and sympathies to get funds
in the name of various development projects for human rights and girls
education. Ameer, Jamaat-e-Islami
Pakistan, Syed Munawar Hasan, likened the Malala attack to the ‘fake’
video of whipping of a Swat woman that became the basis for military
operation in Swat. He added that hundreds of innocent people were being
killed in drone attacks and bomb blasts but the media generally ignored
these. Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (JUI) JUI-F chief Maulana Fazlur
Rehman has survived a few attacks by the Taliban. His response to the Malala
attack was, therefore, expected for reasons of his own security but also for
his ideology. He said he condemns the attack on young Malala, but questioned
who will protest the deaths caused by drone strikes. He said the attack was
against Pashtun traditions. He said that Ulema were
being threatened to condemn the attack on Malala. He said that those who were
raising the issue of Malala did not press for Dr Afia Siddiqui’s release.
“Malala is our daughter and we know how to honour our daughters,” he
said. He said people were
protesting against the attack on Malala just because it was a pro-American
stance. Fazl said that the politicians who were condemning the attack on a
14-year-old girl have disturbed the peace of Karachi. In his rally in Sukkur, he
said any military operation in North Waziristan as a reaction to the Malala
incident would not be in the national interest. Difa-e-Pakistan Council (DPC) Chairman DPC Maulana Samiul
Haq and chief of Jamaatud Dawa (JuD) Hafiz Saeed Ahmad have claimed that the
attack on Malala Yousafzai is a conspiracy by America to launch a military
operation in North Waziristan. Addressing a Kashmir
conference, Samiul Haq said all the children killed in drone attacks should
be considered equally like Malala. “A great game is being played against
Pakistan by India, America and Israel, but we will not let them succeed in
their nefarious designs.” Hafiz Muhammad Saeed said
that the Malala attack was aimed at damaging the movement of Hurmat-e-Rasool. (Compiled by Waqar Gillani)
Sceptic’s
Diary Here is a
depressing realisation about life: a lot of people are hopelessly naïve. If
I sound haughty, it is because I am agitated. The shooting of Malala
Yousafzai, that little star of courage, has not changed the argument advanced
by Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP). It is merely another, albeit a horrific,
example of the lengths to which they can go and the depths to which they can
sink. This is not the first time
the TTP has targeted children. They employ child soldiers, film them as they
sever heads of our soldiers and use them as suicide bombers. They blow up
schools. Their agents terrorise our cities knowing full well that those they
kill are all innocents — including children. Their argument, that they
abhor our way of life and want to destroy the state of Pakistan as it exists,
remains the same. Therefore, expecting Imran Khan’s hollow stance of
blaming all terrorism on the US and its drones to change after one incident
is naïve. The drones are hardly the
reason the TTP has taken up arms. Drones are only relevant to the extent that
they supplement, only in an ancillary way, the narrative furthered by the TTP.
The peace lashkars and the tribal elders that have been targeted by the TTP
have nothing to do with drone attacks — neither does Malala. I have said this before and
I will say it again today that even if the drones were to stop, the TTP’s
atrocities will continue. Therefore, those who ask us to condemn drones first
before we condemn the TTP are being, for the lack of a better word, absurd.
Furthermore, there is a clear moral difference between an act undertaken in
an armed conflict (war) that inadvertently targets civilians and one that is
meant to target civilians. The former describes drones and the latter the TTP.
This is not America’s war. When an entity wants to destroy our State and
everything in it, including our children, we’d better treat this as our
war. Those who believe a state should never kill anyone should probably cover
their eyes and ears at this point and hope for a time machine. This is a war
declared on the state of Pakistan and we need to fight back. It will not be
fought entirely with arms but arms must be used. In Khan’s universe, the
TTP comprises misunderstood teenagers. What Khan fails to understand is that
the TTP doesn’t need his defence or the drones to do what they want.
Violence in the name of religion is about political power. Throughout
history, it has never needed anything such as drones to justify itself. The
drones are another line in a story — the one that the TTP wants you to
focus on but one they hardly care about themselves. Negotiating with the TTP
has been tried in the past and it has failed — rather miserably. For that
we only need to see what happened in Swat. And the people who think
negotiations are the answer, what are they expecting the State to do? What
about the people who will then have to live in the territories controlled by
the TTP? Do we abdicate our responsibility to them? Do we tell the TTP that
they can prohibit girls from going to school or flog them in the public
square? And do you think the TTP will accept anything less in a negotiation? Basically the argument that
Khan and his supporters are making is this: if someone builds a large enough
militia against the State and starts killing people, do not kill them but
negotiate with them. All terrorist organisations should throw a party if this
argument wins the day. The TTP militants are not ordinary criminals. They are
actors who have declared war against the State of Pakistan — and that is
how we must respond. I have also had the
opportunity of reading some pieces in newspapers where writers blamed the
religion Islam and seemed to be saying that since Islam never reformed
itself, the TTP is the logical consequence. Now I have all the respect for
people with that point of view but I don’t respect the argument. This
isn’t about religion — this is about political power. Religion is merely
a tool and this violence would occur even if these people were atheists. By
blaming religion for all the violence, the critics ignore that proponents of
almost every ideology facilitating control of a population — including
religion of course — has used violence. This doesn’t mean that the faults
relate to religion. Sure, there should be more open discourse and debate but
by blaming religion you are not helping the cause, especially if you want to
convince the people of Pakistan that this is our war. What needs to be made clear
is that the TTP’s actions are a corruption of religion. Equally important
is the fact that the TTP is using religion only because it is convenient
since what it seeks is political power. Those who think religion is
responsible for violence in the world should brush up on their Noah Feldman.
Till recently, the highest number of suicide bombings in the world had been
carried out by Sri Lanka’s LTTE — an army not advancing any religious
goals. Religion, drones and their
respective use are important issues. However, they have nothing to do with
the TTP’s atrocities. Negotiating with them is an abdication of our
responsibility towards those who will have to live under their reign of
terror. The argument remains the same: this is our war — already past our
doorstep — we need to realise and agree on without further delay. The writer is a practicing
lawyer and currently also an Adjunct Professor of Jurisprudence at LUMS. He
can be reached at wmir.rma@gmail.com or on Twitter @wordoflaw.
We are sorry,
Malala I understand that
you cannot read this letter but, someday, hopefully very soon, you will read
all the letters written to you during your deep slumber. You must know that
your country-fellows have grieved for you, cried for you and held candle
light vigils for your recovery. I was somewhat relieved to know that the
bullet fired by the religious radical went through your brain without causing
much harm. Definitely, your guardian angels changed the pathway of the bullet
piercing your head. Malala, you have suffered
so much because we, as a nation, have not been responsible enough. But you
must excuse us as we suffer from an unusual psychological disorder. I have
even diagnosed it; it’s called cognitive dissonance. As a result of this
disorder, we lack harmony in our held beliefs, attitudes and practices. Reading this, Malala, a
number of questions might come to your mind. Let me clarify them. This
disorder affects our belief system, behaviour and thinking in three major
ways. One, we tend to support and
oppose the same belief at the same time. The shooting of a brave girl like
you has elicited condemnation from all over Pakistan. But another girl,
Nabila, has also been attacked with guns and acid in Kurram Agency. Reading
about that girl brought profound grief to me, but many people in this country
would not vehemently censure that attack. Your brown dreamy eyes must be
filled with amazement reading this. My dear, let me explain. Nabila’s
religious sect is different from that of the majority; so her case would
never evoke the same denunciation. But, is it not a pitiable
situation? Our nation does not realise that as the principle of right to
education has been violated, so religious violence in various forms must be
unreservedly condemned, at all places, by all categories of people. Second, the disorder
hinders our ability to sift one fact from another. My dear, one episode
explains it emphatically. After your shooting, as you were airlifted in a
military helicopter to Peshawar, some people began circulating pictures of
girls with prosthetic legs. The photographs were captioned: Why victims of
drone attacks have not been airlifted in military helicopters? Unfortunately, these people
fail to distinguish between an intentional, ideologically-driven attack
directed against you for supporting the girls’ right to education and the
wounds suffered by the girls in photographs in attacks that were targeted at
militants. Both types of attacks require different responses and strategies
to offset their recurrence. But our nation tends to mix up issues and this
derails the mitigating measures. Third, due to this discord
between our beliefs and practices, we tend to find conspiracy theory behind
most national events. Foreign actors are responsible for what goes wrong in
Pakistan — bomb blast in Lahore: India; your shooting: US; and dead bodies
dumped in Gwadar: Afghanistan. See we know the culprits. Malala, a girl like you who
can weave beautiful dreams and also has the grit and determination to
implement them might be wondering about how to remedy the discrepancy between
belief and practice. Since each individual is
responsible for his/her actions, I have decided to start with my own self. My dear, I have made a
resolve that when young men come to me for donations, showing me photographs
of prisoners of Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo prisons, I will ask them a few
questions: Where do you intend to use my donated money? Would you use this
donation to put up hate-filled posters on traffic intersections and city
walls? When volunteers of some organisations come to me to collect hides on
the coming Eid, I would ask them: Would you sell the hides and use that money
to prepare misguided material that brainwashes the minds of young boys and
girls? Malala, to bring an end to
my cognitive dissonance, I need to modify my behaviour as a citizen too. Next
time, when I file my income tax return, I would fill in the accurate details
of my income and expenses; it is quite possible that my correct declaration
of tax would only increase the tax payment by a mere Rs10,000, but this
amount is not paltry. It is not paltry because it can help pay the salary of
one teacher in the remote areas of our motherland. And that teacher might
teach 20 brave girls like you. The alteration of behaviour,
attitude and practice is difficult to accomplish, my dear, but if our nation
has to see girls of Pakistan grow up like you, humble but tenacious,
empathetic but courageous, and craving for books with wonder-lit eyes, we
would have to change ourselves — for you and many other Malalas.
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