Daily Times

Lahore: A day after Ayesha Gulalai’s explosive press conference accusing Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) leaders, including its chief Imran Khan, of sexual harassment, social media turned its attention towards her sister Maria Toorpakai Wazir on Wednesday.

The PTI media and PR team, headed by Fawwad Chaudhry, also mentioned her in a presser released earlier in the day. Maria was trolled on the social media platform Twitter – some of the tweets amounted to cyber bullying and harassment.

Before this instance, Maria Toorpakai has been in the news as that girl from Tribal Areas who defied all odds to become a professional squash player.

She first made it to the news in 2013 when her inspiring story of disguising as a boy just so she could continue her squash training went viral and was featured on international media as well.

Maria’s quote as featured on her website tells the following story of her childhood, “I was born in Waziristan, Pakistan, a remote region commonly referred to as the ‘most dangerous place on earth’. Girls rarely go to school and certainly don’t play sports. But I grew up differently. At the age of four, I burnt all my dresses, cut my hair, put on my brother’s clothes and began to live life as a boy. My father, a strong advocate for equal rights and opportunities for men and women, pushed tradition aside and allowed me to live disguised in order to flourish as an athlete. When I was 12, still disguised as a boy, I was ranked #2 in all of Pakistan for weightlifting in the junior division. Then I discovered squash. When the local squash academy in Peshawar required a birth certificate, my true identity was revealed. Fortunately the director shared the same values as my father and handed me a racquet,”

After her secret got public, Maria and her family started receiving threats from Taliban making it impossible for her to continue competing. This is when she was restricted to the bounds of her home. Instead of giving up, Maria kept training within the confines of her own bedroom, while writing for sponsorship to squash clubs abroad at the same time. She has been quoted as saying she sent thousands of emails to squash clubs seeking sponsorship so she could move out of the country and continue playing. Finally, there was a breakthrough. Maria was invited to Toronto to train with Jonathan Power, once ranked No1 in Squash. She hasn’t looked back since then. Still living and training in Canada, Maria now ranks 83rd in the world. She continues to play for Pakistan as well.

Published in Daily Times, August 3^nd 2017.