http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malala_Yousafzai

Malala Yousafzai ( born 12 July 1997)[2][3] is a school student from the town of Mingora in Swat District, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, Pakistan. She is known for her education and women’s rights activism in the Swat Valley, where the Taliban has at times banned girls from attending school.[4][3] In early 2009, at the age of 11, Yousafzai came to prominence through a blog she wrote for the BBC detailing her life under the Taliban regime, their attempts to take control of the valley, and her views on promoting education for girls.[10] The following summer, a New York Times documentary[3] was filmed about her life as the Pakistani military intervened in the region, culminating in the Second Battle of Swat.[11] Yousafzai began to rise in prominence, giving interviews in print and on TV,[12] and taking a position as chairperson of the District Child Assembly Swat.[13] She has since been nominated for the International Children’s Peace Prize by Desmond Tutu,[14] and has won Pakistan’s first National Youth Peace Prize.[4]

On 9 October 2012, Malala Yousafzai was shot in the head and neck in an assassination attempt by Taliban gunmen while returning home on a school bus.[15] In the days following the attack, she remained unconscious and in critical condition,[16] and as of 15 October she has been sent to the United Kingdom for further treatment. A group of 50 Islamic clerics in Pakistan have issued a fatwā against those who tried to kill her.[17] The Taliban has reiterated its intent to kill Malala Yousafzai and her father, Ziauddin.[18]

Former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown launched a United Nations petition[19] in Malala’s name, using the slogan “I am Malala” and demanding that all children worldwide are in school by the end of 2015. Brown said he would hand the petition to Pakistan’s President Asif Ali Zardari in November.

Early life

Malala Yousafzai was born on 12 July 1997 and given her first name, Malala, meaning “grief stricken”,[10] after Malalai of Maiwand, a Pashtun poetess and warrior woman.[20] Her last name, Yousufzai, is that of a large Pashtun tribal confederation that is predominant in Pakistan’s Swat Valley, where she grew up. At her house in Mingora, she lived with her two younger brothers, her parents, and two pet chickens.[3] She affectionately referred to the region as “my Swat.”[10]

Yousafzai was shaped in large part by her father, Ziauddin Yousafzai, who is a poet, school owner and an educational activist himself, running a chain of schools known as the Khushal Public School, also named after a famous Pashtun poet, Khushal Khan Khattak.[21] Once, after Yousafzai stated to an interviewer that she would like to become a doctor, her father encouraged her to become a politician instead.[3] Ziauddin referred to his daughter as something entirely special, permitting her to stay up at night and talk about politics after her two brothers had been sent to bed.[22]

BBC blogger

At the beginning of 2009, Malala had a chance to write for BBC Urdu when her father, Ziauddin, was asked by Abdul Hai Kakkar, a BBC reporter out of Pakistan, if any women at his school would write about life under the Taliban. At the time, Taliban militants led by Maulana Fazlullah were taking over the Swat Valley, banning TV, music, girls’ education,[23] and women from going shopping.[4] Bodies of beheaded policemen were hanging from town squares.[23] At first, a girl named Aisha from her father’s school agreed to write a diary, but then the girl’s parents stopped her from doing it because they feared Taliban reprisals. The only alternative was Malala, four years younger than the original volunteer, and in seventh grade at the time.[24] Editors at the BBC unanimously agreed.[23] It is unclear whether Yousafzai or her father first suggested that she write for the BBC.

“We had been covering the violence and politics in Swat in detail but we didn’t know much about how ordinary people lived under the Taliban,” Mirza Waheed, the former editor of BBC Urdu, said. Because they were concerned about Malala’s safety, BBC editors insisted that she use a pseudonym.[23] Her blog would be published under the byline “Gul Makai” (“corn flower” in Urdu),[25] a name taken from a character in a Pashtun folktale.[26][27]

I had a terrible dream yesterday with military helicopters and the Taleban. I have had such dreams since the launch of the military operation in Swat. My mother made me breakfast and I went off to school. I was afraid going to school because the Taleban had issued an edict banning all girls from attending schools.

Only 11 students attended the class out of 27. The number decreased because of Taleban’s edict. My three friends have shifted to Peshawar, Lahore and Rawalpindi with their families after this edict.

On my way from school to home I heard a man saying ‘I will kill you’. I hastened my pace and after a while I looked back if the man was still coming behind me. But to my utter relief he was talking on his mobile and must have been threatening someone else over the phone.

On 3 January 2009, Yousafzai’s first entry was posted to the BBC Urdu blog that would later make her famous. She would hand-write notes and then pass them on to a reporter who would scan and e-mail them.[23] The blog captures Yousafzai’s troubled psychological state during the First Battle of Swat, as military operations take place, fewer girls show up to school, and finally, her school shuts down.

In Mingora, the Taliban had set an edict that no girls could attend school after 15 January 2009. They had already blown up more than a hundred girls’ schools.[23] In the days leading up to the ban, Malala’s school principal had instructed her not to wear school uniforms anymore, but rather plain clothes that would not attract attention. Instead, Malala wrote in her blog, “I decided to wear my favourite pink dress. Other girls in school were also wearing colourful dresses and the school presented a homely look.”[10]

The night before the ban took effect was filled with the noise of artillery fire, waking Yousafzai multiple times. The following morning, she woke up late, but afterwards her friend came over and they discussed homework as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened. That day, Malala also read for the first time excerpts from her blog that had been published in a local newspaper. Her father, Ziauddin, recalled that someone had come up to him with the diary saying how wonderful it was, but he could only smile and not tell them it was actually written by his daughter.[10]

Banned from school

After the ban, the Taliban continued to destroy schools in the area. On 19 January, Yousafzai wrote “Five more schools have been destroyed, one of them was near my house. I am quite surprised, because these schools were closed so why did they also need to be destroyed?”[28] But Malala did not stop thinking about her education. Five days later in her blog, she wrote about studying for her exams: “Our annual exams are due after the vacations but this will only be possible if the Taleban allow girls to go to school. We were told to prepare certain chapters for the exam but I do not feel like studying”.[28] She also criticizes the Pakistani military’s operations many times.

To gain the sympathy of the public, the Pakistani military had taken to throwing toffees from helicopters, but it did not last long. “Whenever we hear the choppers flying we run out and wait for the toffees but it does not happen anymore”, Yousafzai wrote on 26 January. Two days later, Yousafzai traveled to Islamabad with her parents, but despite the havoc of the Swat Valley, she could not resist making comparisons: “It is my first visit to the city. It’s beautiful with nice bungalows and wide roads. But as compared to my Swat city it lacks natural beauty”.[28] After Islamabad, the family traveled to Peshawar, where they stayed briefly with relatives. Yousafzai writes about her five-year-old brother who was playing in the lawn. Her father asked him what he was doing, and he replied “I am making a grave”. The war was taking a toll on both her brothers. On the road to Bannu their bus hit a pothole, waking her 10-year-old brother, who asked their mother, “Was it a bomb blast?”[28] In Bannu, where women customarily wear veils, Yousafzai “refused to wear one on the grounds that I found it difficult to walk with it on”.[28]

By February 2009, Yousafzai was back in Swat, but girls’ school were still closed. In solidarity, private schools for boys had decided not to open until 9 February, and notices appeared saying so. But no such notices had been displayed outside girls’ schools.[28] On the 7th, Yousafzai and a brother returned to their hometown of Mingora, where the streets were deserted, and there was an “eerie silence”. “We went to supermarket to buy a gift for our mother but it was closed, whereas earlier it used to remain open till late. Many other shops were also closed”, she writes in her blog. Their home was burglarized and their television stolen.[28]

Precarious peace

After boys’ schools reopened, the Taliban lifted restrictions on girls’ primary education, where there was co-education. Girls-only schools were still closed. Yousfazai writes that only 70 pupils out of 700 students who were enrolled attended.[28] On 9 February, Yousafzai’s maid mentioned that the situation in Swat had become “very precarious” and that her husband told her to go back to Attock. Yousafzai goes on to write about it thoughtfully in her blog.

“	People do not leave their homeland on their own free will –only poverty or a lover usually makes you leave so rapidly.”	”
—Malala Yousafzai, 9 February 2009 BBC blog entry[28]

As some of her daily routines begin to return to normal, Yousafzai writes more about her home life, where we can gain insight into her personality. On 12 February she mentions that her teacher for religious education came in the afternoon. In the evening she played with her brothers “amid fighting and arguments”, and she also played computer games.[28] It is known that she owned a laptop.[22] Yousafzai mentions that before the Taliban imposed restrictions on the cable network, she used to watch the Star Plus TV channel and her favorite drama was Raja Kee Aye Gee Barat, which she translates as “My dream boy will come to marry me”.[28]

On the 15th, gunshots can be heard in the streets of Mingora, but Yousafzai’s father, Ziauddin, reassures her, saying “don’t be scared – this is firing for peace”. Her father had read in the newspaper that the government and the militants were going to sign a peace deal the next day. Later that night, when the Taliban announced the peace deal on their FM Radio studio, another round of stronger firing started outside. “People believe more in what the militants say rather then the government,” Yousafzai writes in her blog. When they heard the announcement, Yousafzai’s mother and father started crying, and her two younger brothers had tears in their eyes.[28]

Only three days later, their hopes are tested. A Pakistani reporter, Musa Khankhel, had been killed after covering a peace rally led by Sufi Muhammad, father-in-law of local Taliban leader Maulana Fazlulla.[29] But by 21 February, Yousafzai gets what she has been hoping for. Fazlulla announces on his FM radio station that he is lifting the ban on women’s education, and girls will be allowed to attend school until exams are held on 17 March, but they have to wear burqas.[28]

Girls’ schools reopen

On 25 February, Yousafzai wrote on her blog that she and her classmates “played a lot in class and enjoyed ourselves like we used to before”.[28] Helicopters aren’t appearing as frequently nor discussions about the army and Taliban. But there is still gossip in town about a woman who fell down wearing a traditional burqa, and when a man tried to help her she refused, saying “Don’t help me brother, as this will bring immense pleasure to Maulana Fazlullah”.[28]

By 1 March, attendance at Yousafzai’s class was up to 19 of 27 pupils, but the Taliban was still active in the area. Shelling continued and relief goods meant for displaced people were looted. [28] Only two days later it appears that the peace deal is breaking down. Yousafzai writes that there is a skirmish between the military and Taliban, and the sounds of mortar shells can be heard. “People are again scared that the peace may not last for long. Some people are saying that the peace agreement is not permanent, it is just a break in fighting,” she writes. Her younger brother is scared to go to school, because he fears he might be kidnapped.[28]

On 9 March, Yousafzai wrote about a science paper that she performed well on, and added that the Taliban is no longer searching vehicles as they once did. Her blog ends three days later on 12 March 2009. [30] The following month, in April, President Asif Ali Zardari signed a controversial regulation into law that formally established sharia law in Swat and surrounding districts. The act is supported by Sufi Muhammad, the founder of Tehreek-e-Nafaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi, a Taliban group operating in the area. Sharia law does not grant the same rights for women as for men, and Yousafzai may have been affected by this outcome, as she began to become more outspoken at this time. Later that month, government and Taliban forces began to clash once again, and in May the government launched military operations throughout the district.

Refugee

After the BBC diary ended, Yousafzai and her father were approached by New York Times reporter Adam B. Ellick about filming a documentary,[24] which is where many details of this time are captured. In May, the Pakistani Army moved into the region to regain control during the Second Battle of Swat. Mingora was evacuated and Yousafzai’s family was displaced and separated. Her father Ziauddin went to Peshawar to protest and lobby for support, while she was sent into the countryside to live with relatives. “I’m really bored because I have no books to read” Yousalfzai is filmed saying in the documentary. Her mother was not allowed to be filmed.[3]

That month, after criticizing militants at a press conference, Yousafzai’s father, Ziauddin, received a death threat over the radio by a Taliban commander.[10] Obsessed by his mission to restore the Swat valley, her father also happened to forget Yousafzai’s birthday,[3] and with typical boldness, she ridiculed him in a text message and forced him to apologize, and to buy everyone a round of ice cream.[22] But Yousafzai was deeply inspired in her activism by her father. That summer, for the first time, she committed to becoming a politician and not a doctor, as she had once aspired to be.[3]

“	I have a new dream . . . I must be a politician to save this country. There are so many crises in our country. I want to remove these crises.”	”
—Malala Yousafzai, Class Dismissed (documentary)[3]

By early July, refugee camps were filled to capacity, and Taliban commanders were still alive. The prime minister made a long-awaited announcement saying that it was safe to return to the Swat Valley. The Pakistani military had pushed the Taliban out of the cities and into the countryside. After three months of separation, Yousafzai’s family reunited, and on 24 July 2009 they headed home. They made one stop first — to meet with a group of other grassroots activists that had been invited to see United States President Obama’s special representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke. Yousafzai pleaded with Holbrooke to intervene in the situation, saying “Respected ambassador, if you can help us in our education, so please help us”. When her family finally did return home, they found it had been undamaged, and her school had sustained only light damage.[3]

Political career and activism

Following the documentary, Yousafzai was interviewed on the national Pashto language station AVT Khyber, the Urdu Aaj Daily, and Canada’s Toronto Star.[24] Her BBC blogging identity was being revealed in articles as early as December 2009.[12] She also began appearing on television to publically advocate for female education.[4] But Yousafzai’s recognition seems to have been taking off not only because of her own actions, but also because of her father, who had become known as one of the few people to stand up against the Taliban. “Those were the most terrible days – the darkest in our history,” her father said. “We spared no efforts to speak up against terrorism and that struggle brought us into the limelight”. As for Yousafzai, her father says she “got influenced by what was going on and gradually she joined me in our struggle against extremism”.[24]

“	My purpose is to serve humanity
—Malala Yousafzai[31]

Chair of District Child Assembly Swat

In late 2009, Yousafzai’s political career appears to have started. A video dated 22 December 2009 shows Yousafzai entering an assembly room full of children who rise and begin clapping as they see her. She takes her chair at a table onstage where, behind her, a large banner reads District Child Assembly Swat.[32] A UNICEF video from the following year explains. The assembly was established by the Khpal Kor Foundation in 2009[1] with the support of UNICEF, to provide “a unique opportunity for young people to voice their concerns about child right’s issues, and to present solutions to address these concerns.” The video goes on to highlight Yousafzai, the chair of the assembly, and her opinion of the discussion. “It was a good experience for the girls that they can share their views in front of the stakeholders, the non-governmental and governmental organizations”, she says.[13] She appears to have held the position through at least November 2011.[33]

Continued activism

In December 2009 at the latest,[12] Yousafzai began participating in the Institute for War and Peace Reporting’s “Open Minds” project, which brought journalism training and discussions of current affairs to 42 schools in Pakistan. The program also edited their work and put them in touch with local newspapers. Yousafzai’s own success had inspired other young people, and many of those approaching the program were girls.[24]

Rise to fame

In October 2011[14] Desmond Tutu announced Yousafzai’s nomination for the International Children’s Peace Prize and she became a celebrity in Pakistan. Her public profile rose even further when she was awarded Pakistan’s first National Youth Peace Prize two months later in December.[23]

Yousafzai’s growing recognition put her on the Taliban’s radar. On Facebook, where she was an active user, she began to receive threats and fake profiles were created under her name. Yousafzai deleted her personal page and attended digital-security sessions, but vowed to “never stop working for education for girls”.[23]

“I think of it often and imagine the scene clearly. Even if they come to kill me,I will tell them what they are trying to do is wrong, that education is our basic right.”—Malala Yousafzai

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