Malala Yousufzai and the Nobel Peace Prize

On 10^th 0ct 2014 Malala Yousufzai became the youngest person to receive the Nobel peace prize. She shared the prize with Indian children right's campaigner Kailash Satyarthi. Although the world is busy singing her praises Malala is not that well appreciated at home. Since the very beginning when she was shot by the Taliban on Pakistani society has been polarized when it comes to see Malala. On one side there are those who won’t just buy any of the education and women rights narrative and discard her as a foreign agent planted by our enemies as a conspiracy. Then there are those who would go to every length to defend her. They justify her as a symbol of education and resistance against extremism and terrorism. She is seen as the face of the women rights. The camp is divided between these two opposing school of thoughts. And now when she was awarded the Nobel peace prize the conflict sparked again and the debate started once more. It is no doubt that those against the girl getting the prize are in a majority here. And of course they rule the Malala narrative here.

The decision to award her with the peace prize was widely criticized. What has she done to deserve it people ask. Just been shot in the head? There are people far more deserving than she is. Edhi should have got it. The man deserves it. What has she done to promote peace in the world? And the ranting never ends.

Then the minority defending her comes out to her rescue. She has helped improve Pakistan’s image in the world. Our ugly image has been given a little boost. Has Pakistan anything good to show to the world? Malala’s winning the prize has come as a gust of fresh air for Pakistan’s image in the international community. Whether she deserved it or not doesn’t really matter and it is an overall different debate.

To be fair all the sides here are not totally right nor are they wrong. The arguments of all the sides can be debated upon. The Nobel Peace Prize since 1901 has been awarded annually (with some exceptions) to those who have "done the most or the best work for fraternity between nations, for the abolition or reduction of standing armies and for the holding and promotion of peace congresses.” This is the official parameter for becoming a recipient of the prize. But the reality is quite different. The prize has always been politically motivated. And for most of its history it has been a subject of controversies. A person like Hitler was nominated for it. Barack Obama received the award in 2009 and he himself was surprised as to why he had been chosen?

To be honest Malala hasn't actually done much to promote peace in the world. She is a young girl who wrote about the plight of the girls her age when the Taliban took over the Swat Valley and banned girls from going to school. And in doing so she rightly did become the face of resistance against extremism and a symbol of education. There is no denying that. But when it comes to her actually deserving the prize it becomes hard to justify it. But then again as mentioned before that the prize has always been politically motivated it doesn't remain difficult to comprehend the decision. And what the people in Pakistan need to understand is this. That it’s not the question of whether she deserved it or not but rather what good has it done for the country. The focus should not be her deserving but rather the values she stands for. Malala stands for peace, she stands for education, women rights, equality between men and women. She stands against terrorism and extremism, against fundamentalism and bigotry, against hate and intolerance. These are the values which the people in Pakistan need to realize instead of accusing of her of being a foreign agent and part of a Yahoodi Saazish. (Jewish conspiracy)

Many people also point out that Malala is contributing to the already negative image of Pakistan. Through her the world gets to know what a war torn, impoverished, backward, conservative and illiterate place Pakistan is. They are not very wrong in their approach. But the question is that aren't these things the bitter truth and harsh realities? Aren't we an impoverished and illiterate nation of 180 million? Why do we become so scared to look at ourselves in the mirror and accept the reality that these problems do exist and we have nothing to solve them? But yes one thing we do can and that is criticizing and disowning the very people who bring us honor and respect .We love to label them as agents and traitors. Not for once do we have the courage to look at ourselves and critically analyze what have we done? Malala today should become an inspiration, to fight terrorism and intolerance, to fight illiteracy and poverty, to fight fundamentalism and extremism. Not a subject of the debate that whether she deserved it or not.

As we look at this from a neutral perspective and critically evaluate the whole episode it becomes easier to say that although Malala did not deserve the prize but it becomes insignificant because of the fact that the prize has been politically motivated. Plus it has been for the greater good of Pakistan. It’s time that we should move on and reflect on the greater and darker issues which continue to haunt us.