Malala and Nabila: worlds apart - Opinion - Al Jazeera English
One was attacked by the Taliban. She is a hero. One was attacked by the Americans. Nobody cares about her. The fathers for both girls are teachers. Both studied. Both suffered a great deal to get where they are today.
But seems not all Pakistani girls are equal in the eyes of the Americans or the world. Some are not of value because they don’t fit the agenda of the US and its allies.
Re: Two Pakistani girls. Two very different stories
Whats new in that?
Re: Two Pakistani girls. Two very different stories
Both are heroes.
Re: Two Pakistani girls. Two very different stories
yes one hero is successful as she got big banner grand publicity and the others career ended before start like an actor in a low budget poorly executed movie.
Re: Two Pakistani girls. Two very different stories
yes one hero is successful as she got big banner grand publicity and the others career ended before start like an actor in a low budget poorly executed movie.
Will not argue with you, we know the reasons. But on the other hand if drones are wrong the attacks of terrorists are wrong too.
Re: Two Pakistani girls. Two very different stories
I agree but this is hardly heard 'If on the attacks of terrorists are wrong then drones are also wrong'. They are digested in the name of collateral damage.
Re: Two Pakistani girls. Two very different stories
^ Sadly if you see both sides have joined one extreme or the other.
Re: Two Pakistani girls. Two very different stories
It amazes me how some propagandist can stoop so low that instead of thinking, they start comparing ‘fruit with vegetable’ and start crying or making fuss on different treatments each gets.
Literally 1000s of girls got intentionally killed or wounded by Taliban and their likes. Are all getting treated as heroines just like Malala … or all got similar treatment what few girls who got accidently killed or wounded by drones or operation of Pakistan armed forces. Is it not true that whoever kills or wound a person (army, drones or Taliban), most of the time they are treated as being an unknown victim?
Treatment of Malala is not entirely to do with her getting wounded by Taliban. Fact is that world knew about Malala due to her diary on her blog and internet what she wrote as Gul-Makai. It was her work as ‘Gul-Makai’ that made her heroine as well as target of Taliban. By her work as 'Gul-Makai' she became icon of resistance and show of will to fight terrorism ... and it is this work that gave Malala a recognition and status of heroine when she was targeted due to her work (writings as Gul-Makai).
I am pretty sure that no girl got killed or injured by drones or action of Pakistan army (leave intentionally, even unintentionally) who was doing campaign against drones or operation Pakistan army ... else she would have got treated as heroine too (atleast by pro-Taliban media and anti drone propagandists). So, there is no comparison ... neither Malala treatment should create fuss.
Malala treatment is just like treatment Bai Nazeer got when she got killed by Taliban, and that was different from 10 of 1000s innocent women that Taliban killed intentionally. Malala treatment is just like treatment Imran Khan would get if he gets injured or killed by Taliban. And so on.
Re: Two Pakistani girls. Two very different stories
The difference is that Americans are not out to get schools girls, but Taliban are. They intentionally shot a school girl in a head, and her crime was that she wanted to go to school. And, if you can’t see the difference between the two than you’re beyond help.
Re: Two Pakistani girls. Two very different stories
List of civilian casualties in the War in Afghanistan (2012) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
How many children is that alone in 2012?
For me the reason matters little when a child dies. Children shouldn’t die period. And those who make excuses when children are killed are beyond contempt.
Re: Two Pakistani girls. Two very different stories
^^^ I hope you have same feelings when Taliban blow up car packed with explosives in middle of a market place killings 100s of people included dozens of children, but I doubt it. Btw, non withstanding right jihadi propaganda, it seems like most of those killed by drones are terrorists.
Pakistan says drone strikes killed 67 civilians since 2008 | Al Jazeera America
Re: Two Pakistani girls. Two very different stories
You are right … children should not die … period.
So, from today make your duty to tell this to Taliban thugs who brainwash children younger than Malala, then make them wear suicide belt and explode them in parks, schools and shopping centres to kill many innocent unwary children along with their parents.
From now, you should start appreciating drone strikes and army operations as both are killing those who are killing children (as well as their parents). If it was not for drone strikes and army operation against Taliban, these thugs would have killed many 10s of 1000 more children by now.
Re: Two Pakistani girls. Two very different stories
I openly denounce the Taliban. I think they are cowards who kill innocent Pakistanis for no reason. I after am one of the few who first brought up the fact that more Pakistanis will die since Mehsud has been killed, while you were busy rejoicing.
Can you two do the same for NATO and the US?
You two can condemn the Taliban for killing kids. Yet you two can’t condemn the US and NATO when they kill kids. Sad.
Re: Two Pakistani girls. Two very different stories
No b/c the NATO and US are not intentionally targeting children. If you can prove that I’ll be more than willing to condemn them. On the other hand, this what Taliban are doing.
Re: Two Pakistani girls. Two very different stories
I openly denounce the Taliban. I think they are cowards who kill innocent Pakistanis for no reason. I after am one of the few who first brought up the fact that more Pakistanis will die since Mehsud has been killed, while you were busy rejoicing.
Can you two do the same for NATO and the US?
You two can condemn the Taliban for killing kids. Yet you two can't condemn the US and NATO when they kill kids. Sad.
You should know that if more Pakistanis would die, then it is not fault of drone killing Hakeemullah but because Talibans are brutal beasts and Pakistan government is incompetent … rather, it is not even incompetency of Pakistan government and armed forces, but effect of propagandist who make Taliban a religious warriors influencing many in armed forces making them reluctant to kill Taliban.
Actually, pro-Taliban propaganda machine are fighting for Taliban on several fronts.
1: For people (general public) who are fearful, these propagandist try to create havoc of Taliban, portraying Taliban as invincible and brutal … so, one should not talk against them, should not talk eliminating them, rather stay fearful of them and worried what these lowly thugs could do.
2: For people vocal against Taliban, these propagandists try to portray victim image of Taliban who are killing innocent Pakistanis because they are victimised by cruel Americans and Pakistan army, hoping that in this way they (propagandists) might influence the heart and mind of people vocal against Taliban and their likes.
3: For Pakistan army and law enforcement agencies, these propagandists are trying to create Islamic warrior image of Taliban, so that they (army and law enforcement agencies) feel reluctant in using force against them and eliminating them.
Your above post portray what many Taliban propagandist do when trying to influence Pakistanis on streets (as mentioned above in 'front 1') ... that is to make Pakistanis fearful about any action taken against Taliban, by telling (or warning) Pakistanis the consequence of such action.
Re: Two Pakistani girls. Two very different stories
Thanks for proving my point. The death of a child for you depends on intent not on the basic premise loss of an innocent life.
Re: Two Pakistani girls. Two very different stories
yes one hero is successful as she got big banner grand publicity and the others career ended before start like an actor in a low budget poorly executed movie.
And who's fault is that?
Ours. I don't see our media highlight the plight of drone victims by naming each and every single one who's killed. Instead they're more obsessed by the latest films released by Bollywood(!).
I don't get it, why do people say ''oh Malala gets everyone weeping but noone cares about xyz'', every one of us on this forums weeps when the innocents die, but its our media's job to scream about it as well. I don't see them doing so at all!
Re: Two Pakistani girls. Two very different stories
And who's fault is that?
Ours. I don't see our media highlight the plight of drone victims by naming each and every single one who's killed. Instead they're more obsessed by the latest films released by Bollywood(!).
I don't get it, why do people say ''oh Malala gets everyone weeping but noone cares about xyz'', every one of us on this forums weeps when the innocents die, but its our media's job to scream about it as well. I don't see them doing so at all!
Agree our media is definitely at default. promoting useless stuff all the time and always run behind the ratings. Media has never fulfilled its responsibilities in proper way. While killing in Karachi was part of headlines, Balochistan issue was not given coverage. On hand we were shown 3-4 hours sermons by political leaders and on other hand, people were kept in dark on main issues. So media got priorities and that priority is not addressing nations issues but gaining TRPs.
Re: Two Pakistani girls. Two very different stories
The difference is that Americans are not out to get schools girls, but Taliban are. They intentionally shot a school girl in a head, and her crime was that she wanted to go to school. And, if you can't see the difference between the two than you're beyond help.
Lame. Americans operate in a territory that is well known to have civilians. The difference: walking on a bus and shooting a specific girl, vs walking into a village and shooting people in hopes that a particular target gets hit. Do carry on and pretend like these are worlds apart, but they're not...
Re: Two Pakistani girls. Two very different stories
Pakistan Senate in Feb 2013 asked Ministry of defence to give accurate figures since 2008 on number of drone strikes and casualties due to drone strikes … Senate also asked Interior Minister to give accurate figures on number of civilians killed by terrorists since 2002.
On 30 Oct 2013, relevant ministries gave their answers with figures. Here are the answers with figures from Ministry of defence and Interior ministry to Pakistan Senate. These are first official figures from relevant ministries on drones strikes, casualties, and terrorism related matters that also has legal implications if figures given are wilfully wrong (as giving wrong figures to Senate has legal implications for ministries). On the other hand, when giving figures, there was no incentive for ministries to give low or wrong figures, as these ministries are PMLN ministries, and question covered period PPP was ruling Pakistan.
As Senate did not ask the figures related to drones since 2004, just for information sake, I am also including number of drone strikes since 2004 when first drone strike happened.
There were only 10 drone strikes before 2008 (Musharraf period):
2004: 1 drone strike
2005: 3 drone strikes
2006: 2 drone strikes
2007: 4 drone strikes
Figures given by ‘Ministry of defence’ and ‘Interior Ministry’ to Senate can be seen on Pakistan Senate website given below.
‘Ministry of Defence’ figures to Pakistan Senate regarding drone strikes and casualties:
[TABLE]
Year
No of drone strikes
No of terrorists killed
No of Civilian casualties
(Shaheed)
2008
34
283
21
2009
47
451
9
2010
115
751
2
2011
62
356
35
2012
45
235
0
2013
(until 8 Feb ‘13)
14
84
0
Total:
317
2160
67
That means, only around 3 percent of people killed by drones were innocent civilians (could be close relatives of terrorists who were with terrorists when drone strike happened).
‘Ministry of Interior’ figures to Pakistan Senate regarding Pakistanis killed and injured due to terrorism since 2002:
[TABLE]
Province
Killed
Injured
Paid to victims
in compensation
(Rs in millions)
Terrorists arrested
Punjab
1354
3712
Rs 189.2
532
Sindh
646
2685
Rs 987.207
495
KPK
4390
10945
Rs 2143.3
3512
Baluchistan
1955
3756
Rs 596.007
1449
FATA
3851
5084
Rs 1662.35
71
ICT
208
699
Rs 68.90
90
Total:
12404
26881
Rs 5646.964
6149
From above it can be seen that drone strikes are very accurate and most effective weapon against terrorists … and thus only those who are pro-terrorists show their concerned about drones and are also doing propaganda against drones (in media and wherever they can).
I believe that if it was not for drones killing terrorists and creating fear in their heart, there would have been 10s of thousand more civilian casualties in Pakistan due to terrorism.