Conspiracy theories

Malala joined Twitter and all hell broke loose. The girl, who was shot for advocating girls’ education, who is still doing the same all over the world, who should have been the proud ‘daughter of the country, has to now defend all her actions, including the terrorist attack. It is unfortunate that we, as a society, are so fiercely divided. For crying out loud she is still a teenager. This ‘foreign agent theory’ is just to justify things going on in our country. We play ostrich to atrocities around our neighbourhood and cry wolf when someone shows us the ugly mirror. This mindset needs to be changed. We need to be more honest and open minded. Our media and schools are doing nothing to help the situation. In fact the main stream TV media is encouraging our age old quarrelsome behaviour by having mindless talk shows at prime time with everyone from anchor to guests shouting at pitch high frequencies. The need of the hour is to educate our masses about Malala and what she represents.

She is not a girl anymore, she is a symbol of education. She is portraying our country in a way no one has ever done before. She is a girl from a small city who fought terrorists, who stood up against the injustices done to girls going to school. She is showing Pakistan in a positive way – something which none of our so-called leaders ever did. She is a role model for young girls all over the world but here in Pakistan even her book is hidden from the shelves. We need to stand up now and join hands with her to get rid of this age old strained mindset, because, God forbids, no one wants their daughter to get shot like her. Fear begets hatred. Let’s not be afraid, be open minded.

Mehreen Hasan

Lahore