New Delhi: Human rights activist Malala Yousafzai has spoken up on the ongoing protests in Iran, and Pakistanis are miffed. They are calling out her selective activism, saying that she acts as a “marketing gimmick to manufacture consent for western imperialism”.
Once the darling of the liberals in Pakistan, she is now a “tool of the empire”, a “slave of the West”.
Malala, in a post on X on Tuesday, expressed solidarity with the protesters in Iran. “The protests in Iran cannot be separated from the long-standing, state-imposed restrictions on girls’ and women’s autonomy, in all aspects of public life including education. Iranian girls, like girls everywhere, demand a life with dignity,” she wrote.
She then concluded by saying, “I stand with the people and girls of Iran in their call for freedom and dignity. They deserve to determine their own future.”
Pakistanis think it is ironic. Malala has long been criticised in her home country for not speaking out enough in support of Palestinians. Now her stance on Iran has drawn criticism as well.
“Strange because the youth female literacy rate in Iran last year was 98.9% and 70% of STEM university graduates are women. But bombing them back to the stone age will liberate them and provide equal education opportunities?” X user Haydar wrote, questioning Malala’s stand.
He then added, “Isn’t it peculiar? Venezuela led economic growth statistics in Latin America last year, but it needs to be bombed and subject to regime change and aggressive resource extraction, to economically help the people there. Whenever it comes to implementing regime change against a foreign state, the popular narrative always makes it seem like sanctions or bombing them is solely about targeting/ harming a singular *evil* individual— a Saddam, Castro, Maduro or Ayatollah— hence legitimizing it as a means.”
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‘Malala is a fraud’
Others were simply not having it. Another person on X said that the Nobel laureate’s silence on Gaza had “exposed her” and that she should now party with her bestie, Hillary Clinton, whom the user called a “Zionist warmonger”.
“The ongoing Gaza Genocide exposed all you frauds, fabrications of the CIA-Human Rights Industrial complex. Go party again with your bestie Hillary Clinton where you can bond over how many girls and women she has mass murdered during her long career as a Zionist warmonger,” the user wrote.
A parody account of Pakistani Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif wrote, “I humbly request that you not be a useful idiot. Iran is a brotherly nation and Pakistan stands behind Iran.”
Across Pakistani social media, there’s a consensus: “Malala is a fraud”.
“You are a fraud, shaking hands with someone who used your country like a rag to destabilize the region. You were nowhere to be seen in Gaza and you reappear only when imperialists need you. We see you exactly for what you are,” a comment on X read.
Others think she is a “disgrace”. They are schooling her on Iran’s literacy rates.
“What a disgrace this western pawn has been. Does she even know that Iranian women make up the most in STEM grads or that Iran female literacy rate is 98% far above any of her funders can claim?! Shut up and sit down!” Pakistani journalist Midhat Ali Zaidi wrote.
Human rights activist Samana Malaika Raza did a “fact-check” on X: “Dear Malala! In Iran, 85% of women over 15 are literate (UNESCO 2022 Report), 25% of STEM grads are women—outpacing the US. Women’s financial inclusion in Iran also outstrips many Middle Eastern, South Asian, and several European peers. Now flip to the US & other countries where women still fight for the basic rights, financial independence, and education funding.”
US-based Pakistani journalist Waqas followed: “If you were looking for confirmation, here it is. Pakistanis in her homeland have been protesting for three years, have been arrested in thousands and hundreds shot on the streets. But Malala will only speak for Mossad sanctioned protests so here we are,” he wrote on X.
(Edited by Aamaan Alam Khan)