Who are these kids Borjan, Sardar Wali and Khan Bibi? What the former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s pet project ‘for-profit school’ to do with Swat Valley in Pakistan? How a 11-year-old girl’s diary found place in BBC website?……when we dig deep we will confront with some unpleasant truths…
Malala Ysufzai, the teenage girl from Swat valley in Pakistan touched the pinnacle of her fame when she addressed the UN on her 16th birth day on July 16,2013. From a victim of Taliban’s brutality to a global icon of girls’ education, her growth was meteoric. Going by her own blog, from now on, July 16 will be celebrated as Malala Day by the UN.
If Malala can bring world attention to this impoverished countryside and save hapless girls in Swat, it would a fitting reply to Taliban who are notorious for their archaic rules for women.
But is this charming girl so concerned about the girls in Pakistan and Afghanistan? Or she is only a tool in the fight against Taliban in Pakistan? When we dig deep into the story, it becomes clear that Malala was a carefully cultivated propaganda material by her promoters in the West and this bubbly girl was just a pawn in the hands powerful groups who have other interests in Pakistan.
Malala grabbed the headlines when she was shot by Tahrik-e-Taliban, a fringe group among the many groups working in the name of Taliban (Students) in Pakistan. But much before the tragic incident, Malala was chosen for the job by her promoters.
A cursory reading of her blog, which was actively supported by the BBC, will show how this innocent girl has been used for projecting political interests of the NATO, which is fighting a losing battle against Taliban in Afghanistan and Pakistan. The diary of Malala which was later published on BBC online (It has seven episodes which together comes around just 500 words!). The blog was first written by using a pseudo name Gul Makai, a legendary Pashtun character in the local folklore, to protect her identity.
Apart from the blog, a documentary profiling Malala’s life was also produced. ‘Class dismissed: Death of female education’ was produced by Adam B Ellick and Irfan Ashraf for the New York Times in 2009, three years before she was attacked. According to some reports, Ellick is a member of Council on Foreign Relations in the US and CIA-man in the New York Times.
Neither the blog nor the documentary talk about the brutal killings of hundreds of women and children in drone attacks by the NATO forces in Pakistan and Afghanistan. Throughout the documentary, Malala and her father Ziauddin Yousufzai talk only about Taliban. Her speech in the UN also didn’t mention about the continuous bombing on civilian population in Pakistan and Afghanistan.
In a few years, Malala gained a celebrity status giving interviews to TV channels and newspapers. In one of her television interviews, she even suggested that man-less drones are the best way to contain Taliban. As she began to parrot the US-sponsored foreign policy for Pakistan, awards and recognitions came on her way. It was then the fanatical Taliban decided to take on her and she was shot at on her way to school on October 9, 2012.
Immediately, national and international media picked up the news and from Barak Obama to Hillary Clinton to Ban Ki Moon, all issued statements condemning the attack. But none of the media reported when on the same day, US Anti War Group activists observed a 12-hour hunger strike outside the Islamabad Press Club, holding pictures of 164 Pakistani children who had been killed by US drones and missiles.
Again, it was when the whole world was praying for the recovery of Malala, three innocent children were killed by the US troops in the Nawa district of Helmand province in Afghanistan on October 14, 2012. Borjan, 12, Sardar Wali, 10, and Khan Bibi, 8, were collecting cow dung when they were hit by the missiles. The cries of these children were drowned in the loud prayers for Malala.
It has been reported that it was Malala’s father Ziauddin Yousufzai, who offered the service of her daughter when the BBC reporter Abdul Hai Kakkar approached him for a courageous girl to write about Taliban’s threat to girl’s education. It was how ‘The Diary of a Pakistani School Girl’ found place on the BBC website.
The story doesn’t end there. Malala’s father is president of a chain of schools called Khushal Public Schools, which are reportedly funded by the US and UK.
It has been alleged the he is also associated with former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown’s campaign for ‘for-profit school system’. American corporate companies like Accenture, Hess, Chevron, and Pearson International are also the part of the project. A project which involves millions of dollars aims to privatise education system in third world countries and Pakistan is one of the target countries. No wonder, Brown is now spearheading a campaign called ‘I am Malala’.
It is to be remembered that Malala was swiftly airlifted to London immediately after she was shot and was given world class treatment while two other girls, who were also injured in the incident, didn’t even featured anywhere.
It would be cruel to attribute intentions to an innocent girl like Malala, but the invisible hands behind the profile making can be ruthless. It took more than a decade to admit by the US that the war in Iraq was fought based on a set lies about weapons of mass destruction amassed by Saddam Hussein. But by the time millions of Iraqi children had perished. The drama and players are the same in Pakistan, only the theatre has changed!