Many more girls are going to school after the attack on Malala Yousafzai a year ago. Credit: Ashfaq Yusufzai/IPS

By Ashfaq Yusufzai
PESHAWAR, Pakistan, Oct 11 2013 (IPS)

Back in Swat Valley in Pakistan where she comes from, Malala Yousafzai who had been tipped to win the Nobel peace prize this year, has not only left behind more girls in school now than there were a year ago but also large numbers of people who are now distanced – and even hostile – to her.

Spokesman for the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) Shahidullah Shahid told IPS from an undisclosed location that “Malala abandoned Islam for secularism.”

The spokesman said it was students of the Jamia Hafsa madrassa in Islamabad who had shown bravery who should be considered for an award. Women students here were involved in a confrontation with government forces in 2007.

The Nobel Peace Prize this year went to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).

“The Taliban will not lose an opportunity of killing Malala Yousafzai, and those found selling her book will be targeted,” he said. Malala has written a book on her experiences titled “I Am Malala”, co-authored with British journalist Christina Lamb.“People know she will not return to Swat, and therefore they don’t like Malala.” -- Mushtaq Ali, a jobless computer graduate.

But in a silent response to Taliban threats, the number of girl students at the Khushal Public School that Malala went to has risen.

“In 2009, we had a total of 450 students, which has now reached 700,” Subkhan Shah who teaches at the school told IPS. “Many parents want to educate their daughters.”

Muhammad Atif, minister for elementary education in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, told IPS that 660 million dollars would have been spent on education in 2013 in the province. More attention is being given to female education, he said.

“In a special enrolment campaign we have admitted 115,000 out-of-school children to schools since Sept. 1 this year,” Atif said. “More than 60,000 were girls. We have rebuilt 650 of the 750 Taliban-damaged schools.”

“The impact we have recorded after the shooting of Malala Yousafzai is that the urge for education among girls has increased,” Swat-based education officer Mushtari Begum told IPS. “The majority of girls consider her a role model.”

Enrolment has risen from 85,650 girls in primary schools in 2010 to 126,678 in 2013, according to official information.

Malala was shot in the head at point-blank range in a school van on Oct. 9 last year. She suffered serious head injuries and was flown to Britain where she underwent four operations.

Malala rose to prominence in 2010 when she was just 12 over a blog on the Urdu site of BBC where she campaigned for education for girls. Malala wrote under a pseudonym but “it was known that Malala was the writer of the blog that had gained worldwide fame,” Zahira Shahid, principal of the Government Girls High School in Mingora in the Swat Valley, told IPS. “Since then, she has become a motivational force for local girls.”

“During those hard times when all politicians and civil society organisations were tightlipped for fear of the Taliban, Malala emerged as a champion of girls’ rights that gave strength to the oppressed women population,” Muhammad Jaffar, from the Pakistan Tehreek Insaf party led by cricketer turned politician Imran Khan, told IPS.

But he said he is taken aback by the resistance to Malala’s emergence on the international scene. “There was no celebration on Oct. 9, the day when Malala was shot, and survived.”

“The local population feels betrayed by Malala,” Ghufran Ali, a teacher at the Degree College in Swat, told IPS. “She abandoned the people of Swat, where the Taliban influence will never go.”

The incident was blown out of proportion by world media because of the interest shown by Western countries, he said.

“Malala and her two friends Shazia Ramzan and Kainat Riaz who suffered injuries in the attack have flown to the U.K. for free education but what about thousands of others who feel at a razor’s edge coming in and out of schools. People would have been jubilant over Malala had she visited local people after her recovery.”

Abdul Hakim, a shopkeeper in the main market in Swat, said that despite the campaign over a Nobel prize for her, “there are no celebrations in Swat or anywhere else in Pakistan, which means the people are not happy with her.”

“People know she will not return to Swat, and therefore they don’t like Malala,” said Mushtaq Ali, a jobless computer graduate.

“The international media has dutifully been promoting Malala because she was wounded in the Taliban attack, but was oblivious to target killings of peace committee members who were killed by the same Taliban,” he said. “Every month 10 to 15 anti-Taliban persons are killed in Swat. Malala and family are enjoying freedom thousands of miles away.”

In December last year, people came out in protest when the government named Swat Degree College after Malala. The protesters said it would put the lives of students at risk. The decision was revoked after a request from Malala.

Some were disappointed that Malala did not win the Nobel. “We have cancelled our celebrations after we heard that Malala didn’t get the prize. However, we are hopeful that she would continue her struggle for promotion of female education in Swat,” Zahid Khan, president of the Swat Teachers Association, told IPS.

Malala’s teacher Fazal Khaliq said the students of Khushal Public School were unhappy over her rejection for the prize. “She is still very young and could get the Nobel next year. Her nomination for the Nobel prize has brought us immense joy,” he said.

Schoolgirls in Peshawar pray for Malala. Credit: Ashfaq Yusufzai/IPS.

By Ashfaq Yusufzai
PESHAWAR, Pakistan, Nov 5 2012 (IPS)

Young schoolgirls seemed undeterred by the attempt to kill Malala Yousafzai, but parents in northern Pakistan are becoming increasingly concerned over their children going to school.

The outlawed Tehreek Taliban Pakistan shot and injured Malala Yousafzai, a 15-year-old girl student outside her school in her native Swat district last month. She is making rapid recovery from a brain injury in a UK hospital, but the incident has left a deep impact.

“My wife and I are very concerned about the security of our children because Taliban militants are now looking for soft targets like schoolgirls,” Zawar Hussain, a government official whose three daughters study at University Model School, the biggest girls school in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) province of Pakistan told IPS.

The Taliban have attacked schoolgirls in various parts of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and the Federally Administered Areas before. But the Malala incident has set alarm bells going and people now want better security at schools.

“We have asked the school principal to call an emergency parents-teachers meeting to take measures to enhance security for students in view of Malala’s episode,” Hussain told IPS.

Before Malala, a major attack on the Government Girls Degree College in Lund Khwar in Mardan district in March last year had left 35 students injured in a grim reminder that the Taliban are still active in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and in the adjacent Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA).

In October last year militants attacked a school van in Peshawar, the capital of KP province, killing four children and a driver.

Girls education became a prime target of the Taliban who sneaked into FATA after dismissal of their government in Kabul by U.S.-led forces towards the end of 2001. They extended their campaign against education to the adjacent KP in 2005.

The militants argue that educating women is in breach of Islam. About 800 school buildings have been blown up in KP and FATA. That campaign continues.

“We are ready to pay extra but we want a safe environment in schools,” said 35-year-old shopkeeper Muhammad Rehan. Gripped with fear for his two daughters, he said the Taliban were now spreading out from Swat.

“Taliban know that girls are an easy target to spread terror,” he said. Elsewhere the Taliban may have to confront security forces, he said.

Sarhad Public School on University Road in Peshawar has put in place a system where students are asked to leave in queues and to not touch any suspicious object.

“We have drafted guidelines for our students after Malala’s attack. The students have been instructed to inform the class teacher if they spot any suspicious persons near the school,” principal Nadeem Ahmed said.

“We have restricted the students’ movements and have warned against leaving school in droves because the attackers want to kill or injure as many as they can.”

Other schools will follow the suit, he said, because parents are pressuring principals to improve security.

“My mother insists that I stay home but I am not afraid,” Palwasha Bibi, a third grader at the Ashraf Memorial School in Canal Town, Peshawar, told IPS. “She (my mother) loves me and wants to see me happy and alive. Her concerns are genuine but we have to take safeguard measures instead of staying away from school.”

Some classmates had been advised by parents to wear veils as part of precautionary measures to avoid being attacked, she said. “The Taliban won’t harm veiled students.”

Education Minister Sardar Hussain Babak told IPS that posting of police at all of the 30,000 schools in the province was not possible but that coordination among parents and teachers was being strengthened to thwart Taliban attempts to scare away students.

“We have started a strategy to arm the schools’ watchmen and increase coordination among schools’ administration and police,” he said. “In some districts we have imparted training to guards.”

Parking of vehicles near schools has been restricted, he said. Police have been directed to keep an eye on the suspicious people near big girls’ schools.

Deputy director for education Ghulam Farooq said they had issued immediate instructions to all schools to make elaborate arrangements for security especially at the time when the students leave school at the end of the day.

“We are carrying out inspections to see the security measures. In case of any laxity, the principals or head teachers of the concerned school will be held responsible and they will face action,” he told IPS.

Schoolgirls at a demonstration in Peshawar in support of Malala Yousafzai. Credit: Ashfaq Yusufzai/IPS.

By Ashfaq Yusufzai
PESHAWAR, Oct 12 2012 (IPS)

Shazia Begum, one of three girls injured in the attack on the Pakistani schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai says the Taliban had sought to silence a very influential schoolgirl.

“Malala is a source of inspiration for all of the students in Swat,” Shazia Begum told IPS at the Combined Military Hospital in Peshawar where she is being treated. “She encouraged us to get education when the Taliban banned it.”

Malala, 14, who suffered gunshot injuries to her head in the attack in Swat Oct. 9 is recovering in hospital in Rawalpindi to which she was moved. She remains in serous condition.

“Her articles on the BBC gave us hope and enhanced our love for education. It was because of her that thousands of girls attended schools despite Taliban’s opposition,” Shazia Begum told IPS.

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain told IPS that Malala had helped the government bring girls back to school when the Taliban were trying to slam the doors of education on them.

Despite being on the hit list of Taliban she never missed going to school, and this encouraged female students in the violence-wracked Swat, Hussain said.

Swat, one of the 25 districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, remained under Taliban control from 2007 to 2009.The Taliban destroyed about 500 schools in that period, depriving about 80,000 students of an education. The Taliban were evicted following a military offensive in 2010.

“Everyday Taliban hanged bodies of their opponents from electricity poles after executing them,” lawmaker Bushra Gohar told IPS. “The residents of Swat kept silent due to reprisals by Taliban but Malala proved a blessing not only for men but also for women.”

Pakistan Tehreek Insaf chairman Imran Khan who visited the hospital Oct. 10, said Malala was braver than all men. “When all the people went into hibernation due to Taliban fear, she remained steadfast and served as beacon of hope for fellow students,” Khan said.

Her outspoken criticism of militants had earned the wrath of the Taliban but she refused security, which speaks of her matchless bravery, he said.

Threats to Malila’s life increased manifold when she received the National Peace Award in recognition of her services for education and peace in December 2011. She was also among the nominees for the International Children’s Peace Prize. She is the first Pakistani girl nominated for that award.

Malila joined her father Ziauddin Yousafzai, an educationist and social activist, in supporting a peace deal in 2009. But instead of laying down arms, militants began to operate from the adjoining Buner district. Malila and her family were among those displaced in the violence.

Malila wrote of her experiences in that period under the pen name Gul Makai.
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain has announced a 10 million rupee (105,000 dollars) award for information leading to the arrest of individuals who attacked Malala Yousufzai. He said the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government had offered to bear all expenses for her treatment here or abroad.

“We will trace the terrorist who shot Malala and will bring her attackers to justice. They will not survive for long,” he said. The Taliban militants, he said, had started attacking children, which was a sign of weakness and desperation.

He said the government would provide security to her family because the terrorists could hit them any time.

School students all over Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province have been moved by the attempt to kill Malala. A barrage of demonstrations have been condemning the barbarism of the Taliban.

“We are deeply shocked by the attack on Malala who is our sister. We would follow her in struggle against militancy and protection of schools,” Spogmay, a student of University Model School in Peshawar told IPS. Holding a banner to condemn the incident during a protest demonstration, she said students would stand like a rock to safeguard their schools.

Militants can attack the schools with bombs but they cannot weaken the students’ beliefs, she said.

The Taliban have been targeting schools in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and in the adjacent Federally Administered Tribal Areas since 2008. “Those getting English and modern education in the schools are not Muslims. Girls education in not allowed in Islam, therefore, the Taliban wouldn’t allow these schools,” Taliban spokesman Ihsanullah Ihsan told reporters.

Some attacks on school buildings have continued. “The schools are destroyed mostly during night. They plant explosives which damage the schools,” Khyber Pakhtunkhwa education minister Sardar Hussain Babak told IPS.

Babak said that they will build 100 new schools for every one that the militants destroy. He said the government had allocated 460.4 million dollars for promotion of education over the next two years.

The government is particularly promoting education for girls, he said. “We are paying more attention to female education as they had been suffered at the hands of Taliban militants,” he said.

About 200 schools damaged by the Taliban have been reconstructed in Swat while students from the rest manage in tents.

On Friday, the schools across the province remain shut to show solidarity with Malala and to offer prayers for her early recovery.