“We realised the importance of pens and books when we saw the guns,” said Malala Yousafzai, a Pakistani girl who was shot in the head by the Taliban last October. Miraculously, she survived the head wound and on her 16th birthday, on 12 July, she addressed the United Nations. The world's youngest global leader, women and children activist and now the youngest ever person nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, Yousafzai has aims to continue her fight with extremism and for children's rights to education. Her straight, meaningful and fearless speech at the UN on Friday — her first public appearance since she was shot — was powerful enough to touch not only the audience present, but also many people around the world. She began her speech referring to the murdered Pakistani leader Benazir Bhutto. As she touched the pink shawl she was wearing, she said at the podium, “It is an honour for me that today I am wearing a shawl of Benazir Bhutto shahid [martyr].” Benazir Bhutto, leader of Pakistan People's Party, was killed by the Taliban in 2008 when she was campaigning for upcoming elections. She was shot in head following a heavy explosion. Bhutto, who came from a political family and served as Pakistan's prime minister, returned from exile to lead her people. Highly educated and eager, she promised that fighting terrorism and the Taliban would be her government's priority if she won the election. She was not able to complete her mission, silenced by terrorists during the campaigning period. Now her shawl rests on the shoulders of a young fellow Pakistani girl who survived a deadly attack. Yousafzai called on girls from Pakistan and Afghanistan who suffer the most from terrorism and extremism. In spite of having a central government in Pakistan, the rural areas and tribal parts between Pakistan and Afghanistan are hardly controlled by the state. In northwestern Pakistan, bombing schools and terrifying pupils and parents is a common practice. While the government can do little to discipline the attackers, the brave women from this troubled area show courage and take risks by teaching or attending classes. The Taliban's war on girls' education never ends and now schoolgirls from Afghanistan fear for their lives and face an uncertain future after US troops withdraw and peace talks and deals are made with the Taliban. The savage Taliban who look as though they belong in medieval ages believe that in Islam girls shouldn't receive education, and that those who go to school or teach others deserve to die. These extremists, who have never in their lives held a steady job to earn money for a living, fund their war from illegal drug and opium trading. Afghanistan is important for them because of the opium cultivated in this region, and this dirty money is used to seduce poor Afghans to collaborate with the terrorists, even if it costs the lives of their children. “[The extremists] are afraid of women. The power of the voice of women frightens them. That is why they killed E innocent students ... [and] female teachers,” Yousafzai said in her address to the UN Friday. According to the Education Ministry in Pakistan, more than 800 schools have been attacked since 2009. Yousafzai was targeted because she was an educational advocate in her own town and encouraged others to go to school. The Taliban singled her out to silence her and frighten other schoolgirls. Yousafzai survived and became an international advocate with more opportunities to speak up about girls' and women's rights. But how far can these voices — women of Afghanistan and Pakistan — be heard? How can the world protect women and children from extremism? If Afghan girls' safety is jeopardised, Pakistani girls are in danger too. The situation in Afghanistan has a direct impact on Pakistan, and vice versa. With the world's main interest on Syria and Egypt, along with Iran's nuclear ambitions, it is not clear if there is room for the plight of Afghan and Pakistani women in the near future. Many warn us to pay attention to women's rights in this Taliban-influenced territory. Yousafzai's face may have been disfigured but not her dream and passion for education and creating a better world for women and children. Rooting out terrorism is possible with a good educational base, especially in a place troubled by extremism. More than investment in heavy fighting machinery, a book and a pen can be as deadly a weapon to fight these ill-minded people, as Yousafzai said. Just a pen and book can make peace.
