It seems that the various campaigns around the world that pushed her suffering and heroism to the forefront of the struggle for womens' have forced the Taleban fascists to try and backtrack in a blatantly obvious PR stunt with a letter publicised widely in the media today.
The Guardian reports:
A senior member of the Pakistani Taliban has written an open letter to Malala Yousafzai – the teenager shot in the head as she rode home on a school bus – expressing regret that he didn't warn her before the attack, but claiming that she was targeted for maligning the insurgents.
Adnan Rasheed, who was convicted for his role in a 2003 assassination attempt on the country's then-president Pervez Musharraf, did not apologise for the attack, which left Malala gravely wounded, but said he found it shocking.
"I wished it would never happened [sic] and I had advised you before," he wrote.
The paper continues:
He admitted that the Taliban are "blowing up" schools, but justified the attacks on the grounds that the Pakistani army and the paramilitary Frontier Corps use schools as hideouts.
Hundreds of schools have been targeted in Pakistan's north-west: activists say some had been used by the military, but many attacks were motivated by the Taliban's opposition to girls' education.
The Taliban commander also justified recent attacks in Pakistan on health workers vaccinating children against polio by claiming the west was trying to sterilise Muslims.
The letter is clearly intended to influence opinion in Pakistan: although in much of the world Malala has been hailed as a symbol of courage, at home she has been the subject of intense criticism and vilification. Online commentators have described her as a "drama queen" and even accused her of spying for the CIA.
Absolute nonsense on the part of the Taleban of course and most people will see straight through their attempt to "redeem" themselves. The Taleban not only oppose the education of women but also what they call "secular or satanic" education, by which they mean anything that doesn't fit their twisted view of the world.The attacks on women's education have continued regardless of the obvious outrage expressed around the world. The BBC reported in June:
The women's university at the centre of Saturday's deadly twin attacks in the Pakistani city of Quetta has been shut down until further notice.
In the first incident a bomb on a university bus killed 14 women. Gunmen then killed 11 when they laid siege to the hospital treating the wounded.
Sardar Bahadur Khan University is the only all-female university in troubled Balochistan province.
Meanwhile it was heartening to receive this message by e-mail today:A personal thank you from Zia Uddin Yousafzai, Malala's father
As Malala’s father I want to express my personal gratitude and that of Malala and the whole family to you for signing the petition which gathered 1.4 million signatures in just a few weeks.
I hope you will continue to take an interest as A World at School calls on you, from time to time, to help millions of children in Pakistan, India, Afghanistan, Nigeria and across the world get to school and enjoy learning.
We are very touched by the support we have received, and, as Malala said to the United Nations:
“Let us wage a global struggle against illiteracy, poverty and terrorism and let us pick up our books and pens. They are our most powerful weapons.
“One child, one teacher, one pen and one book can change the world.
“Education is the only solution. Education First”.
Sincerely,
Zia Uddin Yousafzai
Further information: http://www.aworldatschool.org/
No comments:
Post a Comment