Late last year we published an interview with Irfan Ashraf, a Pakistani freelance reporter. Ashraf played a central role in the rise to prominence of Malala Yousafzai, the young advocate for girls education, gravely injured in an attempted assassination when a Taliban-linked gunman boarded her school bus and opened fire, hitting Yousafzai and three classmates. Since surviving the shooting, Yousafzai has risen to international fame, speaking this week at the United Nations, receiving thousands of votes to be Time magazine’s famous “Person of the Year,” and a nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize.
Reporter Ashraf, who is now studying for a Ph.D. in Illinois, had published a column in Pakistan’s Dawn newspaper questioning whether he and foreign media had gone too far in thrusting Yousafzai into the spotlight alone—a fame that may have led to her targeting. This week, following Yousafzai’s U.N. speech, which received a standing ovation, a Taliban senior officer, Adnan Rasheed, sent a letter to Yousafzai, the full text of which is reproduced below. In it, he addressed several of the same points Ashraf had in our interview—if in drastically different ways.
The letter deepens the story. The attack on Yousafzai, Rasheed argues, was not designed to deter girls from going to school, but was motivated by Yousafzai’s own attacks on the Taliban. The motivation was to shut her up, or punish her for criticizing Taliban tactics, not her actions to promote her right to an education, Rasheed claims.
It’s a thin hair to split: Yousafzai’s criticisms of Rasheed’s Taliban faction were, precisely, about Taliban attacks on her school. But the argument recalls statements by Ashraf in our interview last year, in which he parsed the complex motivations behind the Taliban anti-education campaign. Though the Taliban had made clear their opposition to girls studying, Ashraf claimed the initial attacks on schools were intended as strikes against the Pakistani state, which was at war with Taliban forces. The goal was to hit state property, and complicate life for the government. Education for girls was one of several targets at the time, but the larger issue was political control of the region.
Why does that distinction matter? In a practical sense, it probably doesn’t—the end of girls’ education was a particularly toxic item on the Taliban platform, and violence resulted. Yousafzai and three other girls were near-fatally attacked, the schools closed, and the world recoiled.
But Rasheed’s letter provides more of the deeply weird context around the events that would culminate in Yousafzai’s shooting, and the broader Taliban war on girls. His letter quotes the educational goals of once-colonial power Britain, and references drone strikes, modern war crimes, and the Freemasons. It all adds up to a portrait of a belief system that makes it impossible for girls to study because, he seems to believe, studying suggests secularism and imperialism. The problem with Yousafzai learning geography or math, at least as far as Rasheed’s letter goes, isn’t that biblical law forbids it. It’s that he doesn’t like Yousafzai’s particular curriculum.
You say a teacher, a pen and a book can change the world, yes I agree with, but which teacher which pen and which book? It is to be specified, Prophet Muhammad Peace be upon him said I am sent as a teacher, and the book He sent to teach is Quran. So a noble and pious teacher with prophetic curriculum can change the world not with satanic or secular curriculum.
Surprisingly few outlets have published the original text of the letter, below. It contains several spelling and grammatical mistakes, but is not difficult to read, and represents one of the few times an English-speaking audience has had access to a direct statement by a Taliban leader on the controversial case. Here it is.
IN THE NAME OF ALLAH THE MOST MERACIFULL AND BENEFICEINT
From Adnan Rasheed to Malala Yousafzai
Peace to those who follow the guidance
Miss Malala Yousafzai
I am writing to you in my personal capacity this may not be the opinion or policy of Tehreek e Taliban Pakistan or other jihadi faction or group.
I heard about you through BBC Urdu service for the first time, when I was in bannu prison, at that time I wanted to write to you, to advise you to refrain from anti-Taliban activities you were involved in. but I could not find your address and I was thinking how to approach you with real or pseudo name, my all emotions were brotherly for you because we belong to same Yousafzai tribe.
Meanwhile the prison brake happened and I was supposed to be in hiding. when you were attacked it was shocking for me I wished it would never happened and I had advised you before.
Taliban attacked you, was it islamically correct or wrong, or you were deserved to be killed or not, I will not go in this argument now, let’s we leave it to Allah All mighty, He is the best judge.
Here I want to advise you as I am already late, I wish I would have advised u in my prison time and this accident would never happened.
First of all please mind that Taliban never attacked you because of going to school or you were education lover, also please mind that Taliban or Mujahideen are not against the education of any men or women or girl. Taliban believe that you were intentionally writing against them and running a smearing campaign to malign their efforts to establish Islamic system in swat and your writings were provocative.
You have said in your speech yesterday that pen is mightier than sword, so they attacked you for your sword not for your books or school.
There were thousands of girls who were going to school and college before and after the Taliban insurgency in swat, would you explain why were only you on their hit list???
Now to explain you the second point, why Taliban are blowing up schools? The answer to this questions in that not only Taliban in KPK or FATA are blowing up the schools but Pakistan Army and Frontier Constabulary is equally involved in this issue. The reason for this action is common between them that is turning of schools into hide outs and transit camps once it comes under control of either party Pakistan Army or Taliban.
In 2004 I was in Swat, I was researching on the causes of failure of the first revolution attempt by Sufi Muhammad. I came to know that FC was stationed in the schools of swat in tehsil Matta and FC was using schools as their transit camps and hid outs. Now tell me who to blame???
Dozens of schools and colleges are being used by Pakistan Army and FC as their barracks in FATA, you can find out easily if you like. So when something sacred is turned lethal it needs to be eliminated this is the policy of Taliban.
Blowing up schools when they are not using strategically is not the Taliban job, some black sheep of local administration may be involved to extract more and more funds in the name of schools to fill their bank accounts.
Now I come to the main point that is EDUCATION, it is amazing that you are Shouting for education, you and the UNO is pretending that as you were shot due to education, although this is not the reason, be honest, not the education but your propaganda was the issue and what you are doing now, you are using your tongue on the behest of the others and you must know that if the pen is mightier than the sword then tongue is sharper and the injury of sword can be hailed but the injury of the tongue never hails and in the wars tongue is more destructive than any weapon.
I would like to share with you that Indian sub-continent was highly educated and almost every citizen was able to read or write before British invasion. Locals used to teach British officers Arabic, Hindi, Urdu and Persian. Almost every mosque was acting as school too and Muslim emperors used to spend a huge sum of money on education. Muslim India was rich in farming, silk, and jute and from textile industry to ship building. No poverty, no crises and no clashes of civilization or religion. Because the education system was based on noble thoughts and noble curriculum.
I want to draw your attention to an extract from the minute written by Sir T.B Macaulay to British parliament dated 2nd February 1835 about what type of education system is required in Indian sub-continent to replace the Muslim education system.
He stated “We must at present do our best to form a class who may be interpreters between us and the millions whom we govern, –a class of persons Indian in blood and color, but English in tastes, inopinions, in morals and in intellect”
This was and this is the plan and mission of this so called education system for which you are ready to die, for which UNO takes you to their office to produce more and more Asians in blood but English in taste, to produce more and more Africans in color but English in opinion, to produce more and more non English people but English in morale. This so called education made Obama, the mass murder, your ideal. isn’t it?
Why they want to make all human beings English? because Englishmen are the staunch supporters and slaves of Jews. Do you know Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, the founder and symbol of English education in India was a freemasons.
You say a teacher, a pen and a book can change the world, yes I agree with, but which teacher which pen and which book? It is to be specified, Prophet Muhammad Peace be upon him said I am sent as a teacher, and the book He sent to teach is Quran. So a noble and pious teacher with prophetic curriculum can change the world not with satanic or secular curriculum.
You have given the example that once a journalist asked a student that why a talib afraid of this education he replied a talib didn’t know what was in this book. The same I say to you and through you to whole world that why they afraid from the book of Allah because they don’t know what is in it.
Taliban want to implement what is in the book of ALLAH and UNO want to impleme nt what they have in man-made books. We want to connect the world to their creator through the book of Allah and UNO want to enslave the world to few evil creatures.
You have talk about justice and equality from the stage of and unjust institution, the place where you were standing uttering for justice and equality, all the nations are not equal there, only five wicked states have the veto power and rest of them are powerless, dozens of time when all the world untied against the Israel only one veto was enough to press the throat of justice.
The place you were speaking to the world is heading towards new world order, I want to know what is wrong the old world order? They want to establish global education, global economy, global army, global trade, global government and finally global religion. I want to know is there any space for the prophetic guidance in all above global plans? Is there any space for Islamic sharia or Islamic law to which UN call inhumane and barbaric?
You have talk about attack on polio team, would you explain why the then American foreign secretary of state Henry Kissinger, a Jew, said in 1973 to reduce the third world population by 80%.Why the sterilization and eugenics programs are running in different countries in one way or another under the umbrella of UNO. More than 1 million Muslim women have been sterilized in Uzbekistan forcibly without their consent.
Bertrand Russell writes in his book the impact of science on society, “diet, injections and injunctions will combine, from a very early age, to produce the sort of character and sort of beliefs that the authorities consider desirable and any serious criticism of power that be will become psychologically impossible”. This is why we have the reservation on so called polio vaccination program.
You say Malala day is not your day it is the day of every person who has raised voice for their rights, I ask you why such a day in not assigned to Rachel Corrie, only because the bulldozer was Israeli? Why such a day in not assigned to Affia Siddique because the buyers are Americans? Why such day is not assigned to Faizan and Faheem because the killer was Raymond Davis? Why such a day in not assigned to those 16 innocent afghan women and children who were shot dead by an American Robert Belas because he was not a talib.
I ask you and be honest in reply, if you were shot but Americans in a drone attack, would world have ever heard updates on your medical status? Would you be called ‘daughter of the nation? Would the media make a fuss about you? Would General Kiyani have come to visit you and would the world media be constantly reporting on you? Would you were called to UN? Would a Malala day be announced?
More than 300 innocent women and children have been killed in drones attacks but who cares because attackers are highly educated, non-violent, peaceful Americans.
I wish, the compassion you learnt from Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him should be learnt by Pakistan Army so they could stop shedding of Muslim blood in FATA and Baluchistan. I wish, the compassion you learnt from Prophet Jesus should be learnt by USA and NATO so they should stop shedding blood of innocent Muslims across the world and I wish the same for followers of Buddha to stop killing of innocent unarmed Muslims in Burma, and Sri Lanka and wish the same for Indian army to follow Gandhi jee and stop genocide in Kashmir, And yes, The followers of bacha khan, the ANP has an example of non-violence in their five years regime in KPK province, for example Swat, where a single shot was not fired and we witnessed the followers of bacha khan implemented the philosophy of nonviolence in its true soul, with support of jets, tanks and gunships.
At the end I advise you to come back home, adopt the Islamic and pushtoon culture, join any female Islamic madrassa near your home town, study and learn the book of Allah, use your pen for Islam and plight of Muslim ummah and reveal the conspiracy of tiny elite who want to enslave the whole humanity for their evil agendas in the name of new world order.
All praises to Allah the creator of the Universe.
