In the beginning, the story of brave Pakistani teenager Malala Yousufzai seemed to be very simple; a girl eager to continue her studies instead of danger of extremists who not only stop girls from school but also threaten those who anyhow try to assist them in their education, this girl dismisses the idea of quitting the school like other girls of the area and in the end, becomes the target of armed Taliban who had already threatened her to quit schooling. It must be mentioned that she was also a regular writer to BBC’s regional radio service about her eagerness for education and this zeal was not limited to her own but extended to all the children and teenagers and especially the girls of the area where militants tried their best to bar the young generation of schooling by bombing and setting ablaze their schools and libraries. In this shameful attack on a group of girls, which is not supported by any logic or religion, she sustained serious injuries on her neck and minor injuries on some other parts of her body and was immediately taken to England for better treatment. In England, she soon got the attention of international media as a girl who had denied to accept the orders of some barbarians carrying out their activities on the name of religion and had firmly stood in front of all the dangers just to continue her education. Soon her courage and elevated thoughts were showered with praise and appreciation from all corners of the world and every passing day brought more and more fame and media coverage for her. Many famous celebrities and international politicians visited her in the hospital and expressed their well-wishes for her good health. Her unique ideas also earned her great admiration among the politicians and thinkers of the world. She was eager to return to her country and wanted to work for the promotion of education especially of girls in the country. She also expressed her desire to become a politician and change the fate of her terrorism-shattered country by becoming the prime minister of Pakistan. She became a sign of opposition and resistance against militants who don’t want people to be educated. They are well aware that an illiterate and ignorant person would serve their aims better and accept their orders without any question. This was what Malala was against of and this was what many people in the world wanted to hear about.

With every passing day, her name and fame kept increasing and she was showered with many awards and recognitions. She met the US president Barack Obama and first lady while she also had the honor of meeting the Queen of England. She received phone calls from a number of presidents and premieres of different countries of the world. She soon became one of the most influential personalities on earth. She was supported by a number of governments and NGOs in her quest to promote the education of girls in her country. Then her name was taken as the most favorite for winning the Noble peace prize of 2013 but unfortunately, she was not given this award which greatly surprised many in the world. Anyhow, she also gained a lot of media attention in this whole story of Nobel nomination and final result.

A few months before, her book was published by the title of ‘I am Malala’ which soon became the bestseller and was translated into a number of other languages of the world. Her ideas were compiled and written by Christina Lamb in the form of a book.

Till here, it seems like a good story but few things in some parts of the world, especially in her native country Pakistan, are not much in her favor. In the beginning, she earned the sympathies of all as a girl who was badly injured but when she started getting increased media attention and she became an element against Taliban and extremism, many considered it as a game being tailored and administered by Anti-Taliban Western powers. A number of objections were made in this regard. A number of pictures were shown on different social websites like Facebook and others where it was claimed that her injuries were fake. It was also claimed that the attack was not carried out by Taliban; rather it was a combined work of number of secret agencies who had carried out this operation to defame Taliban. Then it was said that Western media gave her extra attention so that she should be used to defame Taliban. Some people in Pakistan call her to be the ‘Agent of West’ who is working to promote their ideas and change the public opinion in their favor and against the militants.

Very shocking incident of these criticisms came almost a week before when an organization of private schools in Pakistan banned her book for all the private schools of the country, claiming that it contained ideas that might contaminate the ideas and thoughts of Pakistani children and these ideas are against the established ideas of society and to some extent, religion as well.

Here, I would like to avoid giving my personal opinion and share with you some of the opinions expressed on different platforms about the issue that would make you see the things clearly. It must be kept in mind that while considering or discussing the different aspects of an issue, we should not remain limited to our own scenario and try to see the things from a broader perspective.

When it comes to the role of media, media is always looking for an issue that should increase their circulation and viewers chart-list. The case of Malala was so straight forward that it soon started selling like a hot cake. Majority of people in the countries like Afghanistan and Pakistan and all the people in world are eager to hear something against militants and extremists. This fact was realized by the international media and it was the reason that news of Malala became the most-read and most-viewed in a number of last months. It is also logical that if extremism and militancy are wrong so what is wrong in supporting a person who talks against them. It is true that if we don’t support extremism and terrorism, we would definitely support Malala.

Then some people have objection that why she always talks in favor of girls’ education in Pakistan and to this objection, one can only feel pity on the mentality of those who still mentally live in the age of stones and want to deprive the girls of their basic right of education.

And if she meets the world leaders to collect funds from them to open schools and these schools will not only provide the facility of education for the girls but would also invent thousands of job opportunities in this poverty and military-stricken area, then she is welcomed even if she is the agent of West. Nothing such has been done by so-called saviors of Islam who don’t know anything except to kill people and set on fire the schools and houses.

Whatever may be our feelings or ideological backgrounds, we must not mix the truth with the lies and same formula applies in the case of perceiving and treating Malala.