Round The World

New Delhi, 23 October 2012

The ‘Malala Moment’

 PAK FAILS TO SEIZE IT

By Monish Tourangbam

(Associate Fellow, Observer Research Foundation)

Pakistan recently witnessed an incident which, according to many, had the potential to bring about a sea change in how its society viewed religious extremism and its implications. Popularly called the ‘Malala moment’, events revolve around a young 14-year-old Pakistani girl Malala Yousafzai who mustered up the courage to stand up against the Taliban. She defied repeated Taliban threats and fought for girls’ education. International recognition came her way when she wrote for the BBC Urdu website, but it also earned her the wrath of the militants. And, on the fateful day of October 9, she was shot at by the Taliban at Mingora in Swat valley. Malala escaped death narrowly and is said to be slowly recovering in a UK hospital.

The heinous incident evoked widespread outcry from both the public and officials. The Pakistani civilian government, the military and even some religious leaders came out condemning the attack. Analysts and columnists in Pakistan and around the world jumped into the fray offering their views on how Pakistan was at the brink of redefining itself and that it was making the first steps towards questioning religious extremism in its society. Sadly, narratives are changing fast. The Malala moment now is in serious danger of being displaced by cries of American plots to defame Pakistan and conspiracy theories abound blaming the young girl as a stooge of the United States.

So, the moot point is: ‘Does Pakistan have a tipping point? How many Malala moments will it take for Pakistan to question its internal malaise rather than point fingers at external factors?’ The attempt to kill Malala, at the outset, did lead to genuine emotional outcry across the country, accentuated by the ones that followed globally. Both the Pakistani President and the Prime Minister expressed sympathy for Malala and anger against the perpetrators. Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf visited her in hospital, where she was treated before being shifted to the UK.  

Even Army Chief General Ashfaq Pervaiz Kayani went to the hospital and reportedly released a rare public statement saying the military would “refuse to bow before terror.” Besides, October 12 was observed as a day of prayers and vigil for Malala across the nation. Fifty clerics of the Barelvi-Sufi Sunni Ittehad Council issued a fatwa against those who had tried to kill her. They firmly opined that Islam does not prohibit females from acquiring education. But the same fatwa also declared the US as an enemy of both Islam and Pakistan, hence puzzling the clarity of purpose and the resolve to fight elements behind such attacks.

Notwithstanding, however monumental the Malala moment might be, there are apprehensions over the question of sustainability of such movements in a country that has parallel authorities, especially when it comes to religious matters. Pakistan is suffering from acute economic distress and slowly seeing its importance degraded in the comity of nations. Hence, banal issues of social extremism are hardly the topics that politicians and government officials should guard.

But, then, religious extremism is something deeply embedded in the Pakistani military since the days of General Zia-ul-Haq. Moreover, Pakistani leaders in their uni-dimensional hatred of India have and still continue to use extremist groups as an asymmetric weapon and a strategic leverage. As such, the problem is not borne out of a lack of awareness but the failure to set priorities for the future of the country. The blatant exploitation of Islam in a country that was founded on the basis of Islam itself has brought the only Islamic nuclear power on the brink of implosion.

Tragically, the nation is suffering from an existential crisis with the Pakistani Taliban raiding some of the most fortified places in the country and also its own citizens with impunity. Pakistan, at present, is a country neither at peace with itself nor with the world. Rising politicians such as former cricketer Imran Khan are at the forefront of shouting anti-American slogans but have been found wanting when it comes to speaking up against the Taliban and other jehadi groups.

In recent times, Pakistan has witnessed the murders of Punjab governor Salman Taseer and Pakistan’s minister for minority affairs Shahbaz Bhatti, which have gone unaccounted for with the religious right in the country hailing these assassinations as the apt thing to do. Pakistan, a nuclear weapon country with one of the best trained militaries in the world seems completely inept to defend its citizens and its military installations from brazen attacks by religious extremists. More importantly, the world is not very confident that Pakistan’s nuclear arsenal is safe and fears of it landing in the hands of terrorists.

Unfortunately, as the world conjured up possibilities of the Malala episode changing the face of Pakistan and its dalliance with religious extremism and regressive forces, conspiracy theorists were busy concocting new narratives. The religious right has started alleging that the schoolgirl was an American agent, and the protests and anger against the Pakistani Taliban which were seen in the initial days have subsided. Even as there was speculation that the Army may finally use this incident to strike at the Taliban strongholds, political inertia gives little evidence that it will actually take place. In Parliament, a government motion in favor of a “military operation” against the Taliban was blocked by the Opposition. And, this lack of resolve within the establishment comes when the Taliban has categorically and openly defied the rule of law.

Worse, the Taliban has published a seven-page justification for the violence, which reads:  “Malala used to speak openly against Islamic system and give interviews in favour of Western education, while wearing a lot of makeup.” Taliban spokesman in Swat valley Sirajuddin Ahmad stated that Malala became a target because she had been “brainwashed” into making anti-Taliban statements by her father, Ziauddin Yousafzai. “We warned him several times to stop his daughter from using dirty language against us, but he didn’t listen and forced us to take this extreme step,” he said as justification and reiterated their resolve to kill the girl or her father.

Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar, described the attack as a traumatic “wake-up call” that could prove to be a turning point in Pakistan’s war against extremism. But, Malala is just the tip of the iceberg and there are thousands of Malalas out there who continue to be at the receiving end of the regressive ideologies and practices of the Taliban. Fighting extremism that saps the growth of Pakistan as a modern nation State needs more than rhetoric and mere official dictates. Pakistan needs to make a choice: Either, it can seize the Malala moment as a symbol of the problems underlying Pakistan and act, and act fast. Or, let the establishmentarian inertia treat the Malala episode as just another moment in Pakistan’s decline to the abyss.--- INFA

(Copyright, India News & Feature Alliance)