R Krishna Das
A leading newspaper of Pakistan Tuesday carried two articles that deliberately drew attention. One was apropos what it claimed Muslim women’s plight in India, ironically, second underlined how Malala Yousafzai was snubbed in her own country.
The 24-year-old daughter of educational activist Ziauddin Yousafzai, Malala has been working for human rights and girls’ education. On 9 October 2012 in the Swat District, Yousafzai and two other girls were shot by a Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan gunman in an assassination attempt in retaliation for her activism. She defeated the death and also the radicals in Pakistan.
The Punjab Curriculum and Textbook Board (PCTB) on Monday confiscated the social studies book for grade 7 published by the Oxford University Press (OUP) for printing the picture of Malala Yousufzai. Pictures of some important personalities had been published on page 33 of the book that included Muhammad Ali Jinnah, national poet Allama Iqbal, Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, Liaqat Ali Khan, philanthropist Abdul Sattar Edhi, Begum Raana Liaquat Ali Khan, Major Aziz Bhatti and activist Malala Yousufzai.
Already circulated in various educational institutes, sources said the PCTB, police and other agencies were conducting raids on shops across the city even at the time the report was filed to confiscate copies of the book for publishing Malala’s picture besides that of military officer late Major Aziz Bhatti.
In the newspaper editorial, it had raised concern about the Muslim women in India. It targeted Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Sangh Parivar claiming that Muslims were not safe in India under the BJP regime. The piece was in response to a disturbing display of targeting some Muslim women, photos of them were uploaded by an unidentified group on an app using GitHub — by the name of ‘Sulli Deals’ — on Sunday, 4 July. Sulla or Sulli is a derogatory term used to refer to Muslims.
The app came to light when people started sharing their ‘deal of the day’ on Twitter, but it has since been removed by GitHub. The incident took place in the hosting platform for which the Pakistan media blamed Narendra Modi and Sangh Parivar. The police authorities are investigating the matter.
The Pakistani newspaper expressing concern for the Muslims in India without any substance failed to acknowledge the dilemma of girls and women in its own country. The Malala incident spoke volumes of it.
Interestingly, the day Pakistani authorities snubbed Malala by seizing the books in which her picture appeared, it was her birthday that the entire World celebrated. She was born on 12 July 1997 in the Swat District of Pakistan’s northwestern province.
July 12 is dedicated to celebrating Malala Yousafzai, the young activist from Pakistan. Malala was shot at by Taliban insurgents while she was on her way to school in 2012. Later, the United Nations declared July 12, Malala’s birthday, as World Malala Day in honour of the young education activist. The day is observed to make an appeal to world leaders that they ensure compulsory and free education for every child in their country.
