Recently an article was published on the BBC website about a girl in Pakistan whose family wanted her to be a suicide bomber. The article claims that there is no proof that her account is accurate, but the police consider it as valuable information.
She is only thirteen years old and comes from a rural, uneducated background. She miraculously managed to escape the nightmare that her brother and father made her go through everyday. Her story is inspiring, yet it is not unusual. There are probably hundreds of girls like her who go through the same nightmare every single day of their life. It’s unfortunate that we don’t have Anne Franks anymore, or else the tragic stories of these girls would inspire us all.
The girl who shares her story in the article deserves our attention. Not because her story is unique but because of her determination and courage to come forward and tell her story. I admire her because of her bold stand against Taliban and her audacity to question their motives. Her doubts about Taliban might not impress us, but we have to understand what background she comes from. The men in her family did their best to brainwash her and make her give in to the idea of suicide bombing as an act that is pleasing to God. She made the effort to think rationally, despite her lack of education and exposure to the world. She could have easily fallen through the cracks and buy in to her brother’s ideology. She could have been any one of those nameless suicide bombers that blow themselves up in the name of God.
But she did her best to break through that false ideology. She had faith in God’s message of peace and tolerance. She believed in the real meaning of Jihad, to struggle in the path of God, not the one that is usually translated as holy war in the news media. She rightly argued that anyone who kills innocent people, Muslims and non-Muslims, can not be called a Muslim.
People who violate the principles of humanity do not belong to any religion as they only work for their own interests. They give Islam a bad name when they justify their acts as Islamic, without realizing the implications. Or maybe they are too fond of the implications; probably all they want is chaos and hatred to ensue. I hope that amidst all this turmoil her voice gets heard around the world and make people realize that Talibanism does not equal to Islam.
Her father and brother could have used themselves instead of her for suicide bombing if that was what they wanted Jihad in the name of Allah, but this isnt the case at all … all they want is the money they will be getting from those allies, they used her because of lack of education they feel that a girl/woman has no worth at all so killing her would lessen their burden along with bringing fortune to the family..