Malala Yousafzai responds to criticism, says her only agenda is education

KARACHI: Nobel Laureate and education activist Malala Yousafzai on Friday said that people who spread lies about her should instead listen to her message which is of peace and education, ARY News reported.

Speaking exclusively to ARY News, Malala, who is on her first visit to Pakistan since the 2012 assassination attempt, maintained that she sometimes fails to understand why some people in Pakistan hate her or call the attack on her a “drama” without any reason.

“Leave all this (conspiracy theories) aside, just listen to my message, which is about educating our children,” said Malala.

She added that such baseless propaganda not only hurts her but also hurts her cause, a selfless mission of educating younger generation especially girls.

“How can our country progress, how can we compete with the world which is progressing so fast without education, we talk about competing with India but how is it possible without educating our younger generation?” asked Malala.

“You can say anything on social media, I can claim that this or that guy is a foreign agent but where is the evidence, you cannot just accuse someone of any wrongdoing without any proof,” the Nobel Laureate said when asked about the conspiracy theories doing rounds on social media.

Malala reiterated her resolve to do everything in her capacity to educate Pakistan’s girls and emphasised the need to change parents’ thinking about the need to educate a girl child.

‘Politics not the only way bring change’

Answering what one can call the “million dollar question” about her presumed “political ambitions”, Malala said that she is no longer interested in politics.

“I used to think that if one becomes prime minister, the change is a few documents or laws away but I have matured, now I think politics is a complicated business,” said Malala.

She was of the view that politics is not the only way to bring the change she is striving for, so it no longer interests her.

“I will rather encourage other people, young people to come forward, join politics and bring the change we need,” Malala concluded.

Now a world figure, Malala Yousafzai arrived in her home country on Thursday, almost six years after a failed assassination attempt by Taliban in the year 2012.

In 2013, Yousafzai and her father Ziauddin co-founded the Malala Fund to bring awareness to the social and economic impact of girls’ education worldwide.

On December 10, 2014, Yousafzai received Nobel Peace Prize with Indian children’s rights and education advocate Kailash Satyarthi.