National Peace Award winner Malala Yousafzai was deeply wounded in a brutal attack by criminal elements belonging to the Fazlullah-led group of the Swati Taliban along with two other girls in Swat. She and the two other girls sustained bullet injuries in the brazen and cowardly attack. Malala was attacked just because she showed the courage to champion the cause of the girls’ education and criticise attacks on schools and school going girls. Surprisingly, Tehreek e Taliban Pakistan (TTP) claimed responsibility of attack on Malala Yousafzai. TTP spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan, speaking by telephone, told AFP “We carried out this attack.” “Anybody who speaks against us will be attacked in the same way.”
It is very unfortunate that TTP have said that they would target her again if she survived because she was a “secular-minded lady”. It is important to mention that a battle for the soul of Pakistan is raging in the country. Arrayed on one side are the forces of obscurantism, backwardness and intolerance, which would like to take Pakistan back to the medieval ages. They are opposed by progressive forces, which favour enlightenment, moderation, tolerance and development. The attack on the 14-year-old Malala Yousafzai is the latest reminder of the ongoing battle between the progressive and the retrogressive forces in Pakistan. We must tell extremists in unequivocal terms that under no circumstances their attempts to impose a retrogressive ideology on the people of Pakistan through the use of violence would be tolerated. No wonder the attempt on the life of Malala has been roundly condemned by the vast majority of the Pakistanis and the international community.
ANZA KANWAL
Rawalpindi
