Daily Times

Sir: Malala has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize amidst speculations whether the girl actually deserved the title or not. In her home country, the news has been taken with a pinch of salt and many believed it to be hyperbolic on the part of the western world that has picked up the girl to reveal the darker sides of Pakistan’s character, vis-a-vis terrorism especially. The question is not why Malala is rewarded with a Nobel Prize or why she has been glorified to a level where everything about her popularity, according to some, smacks of hypocrisy and vested interests. The question is, what was the hurry to give the prize now? As far as an intelligible assessment is concerned, the Nobel prize goes to people whose effort has brought about a change in society or in the overall living standards of the people they represent. Some tangible result is always evident to support the choice. Otherwise, numerous scientists spend a lifetime in laboratories without gaining awards. Just because someone stood up to aggression does not make him/her deserving of the Nobel prize. What has changed in Pakistan since Malala took that bullet in her head? Has terrorism died down? Has Swat become a haven for girls’ education or education otherwise? Has the government revised its education policy and intensified its drive to provide education to each Pakistani? In fact Malala has left the country for security reasons. Delivering speeches on education in the United Nations cannot replace the effort to remove the rot through activism, advocacy, movements and public demonstrations. What a wasted life Nelson Mandela spent in jail to deliver his people from the fetters of apartheid. He should have gone to some western country and become a leader in exile. One way or the other, the Nobel prize would have come his way.

Fatima Zohra

Lahore