By Aamir Latif
KARACHI
The Pakistani Taliban dismissed the awarding of the Nobel Peace Prize to Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani schoolgirl who grabbed international attention after a failed Taliban attempt on her life.
Yousafzai, now 17, was attacked by militants from the Taliban in the northwestern Swat valley in 2012 for her role in advocating for girls' education in Pakistan's tribal areas. She was jointly awarded the prize with Indian child rights activist Kailash Sathyarthi.
“Malala and her greedy father Ziauddin have entered in a vicious deal with the West to destroy the religious and cultural bases of Pakistani society. Therefore, the global media, which is in the control of West, is being used for Malala’s publicity,” the main Taliban coalition Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan said in a statement issued Thursday.
“But, the West cannot escape a sure defeat in the wake of global Jihad by using so-called Gul-Makai," said the statement, referring to the alias Yousafzai used for blog posts published by the BBC about life in the then Taliban-controlled Swat valley.
Though the young activist's award is being thoroughly covered in the news, many in Pakistan take a suspicious view of the attention she gained in the west, especially in her hometown Swat. There had initially been nationwide protests in Pakistan when the Taliban attacked Yousafzai.
“This is the unfortunate reality of Pakistan, where we tend to either ignore or run down genuine heroes," wrote Pakistan’s largest circulated English daily Dawn in an editorial.
“What is there to disagree with in the young laureate’s message? Our state of public education is in a shambles, while extremists have done everything possible to destroy educational infrastructure in parts of the country”, it added.
Pakistan's President Mamnoon Hussain also sent a message of support to Yousafzai: “Malala has raised our heads with pride. We are proud of her.”
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