ISLAMABAD: As the world rose on its feet to give young Malala Yusufzai a standing ovation on the conclusion of her address on her sixteenth birthday at the United Nations, the silence in Islamabad was almost scandalous.
This despite the fact that 80 nations joined by UN special envoy for global education, Gordon Brown and UN secretary general Ban Ki-Moon, put Pakistan on the map because of a teenager who has now become a legend. Which other country can boast of such heroism?
Back in Islamabad and Rawalpindi, there was total silence as the Prime Minister’s Office, Foreign Office, ministry of education and the ISPR chose to ignore this rare event altogether.
Twitteristan also rose up in arms and better sense prevailed when Punjab Chief Minister quickly withdrew his tweet which was considered in bad taste by many, “Good speech by Malala. Could have been better seemed to be written for global consumption (and tried to please everyone at home and abroad).”
Former US state secretary Hillary Clinton was more gracious as she tweeted, “Malala today at the UN: “Nothing changed in my life except this.” Extraordinary young woman! “
PTI Chief Imran Khan also tweeted from London: “Malala’s courage and commitment to the cause of education, especially girls education, is admirable. The PTI government in Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa is paying special attention to educational needs of girls and providing extra facilities for women teachers”.
It was only President Asif Ali Zardari, who was the saving grace as he sent out a message immediately. “Malala is the symbol of young defiant girls in all climes and all ages wishing to seek education for their emancipation and rejecting extremism, tyranny and militancy,” the president said in his message of felicitation.
“The event today in the United Nations is also a demonstration of the realisation by the international community that the way forward to defeat the forces of darkness and militancy is to equip our girls with education,” he said.
He added that the agenda of democracy was peace and progress and that of extremists’ death and destruction.
Internews
