One year after schoolgirl shot
MINGORA, Pakistan — One year after a Taliban bullet tried to silence Malala Yousufzai’s demand for girls’ education, she has published a book and is a contender for the Nobel Peace Prize. The militants threaten to kill her should she dare return home to Pakistan, and the principal at her old school says that as Malala’s fame has grown, so has fear in her classrooms.
Although Malala remains in Britain and her assailant is still at large, police say the case is closed. Many Pakistanis publicly wonder whether the shooting was staged to create a hero for the West to embrace.
Shortly after the attack, Pakistani schoolchildren filled the streets carrying placards with the words: “I am Malala.” A year later, a popular refrain is, “Why Malala?”
In Pakistan’s Swat Valley, the giant sign that once identified Malala’s school is gone. Rickshaws rumble to a stop as girls, their heads covered and faces obscured, scramble out and dash into the building.
The school has made no plans to recognize the anniversary. Teachers and students are afraid. Even a giant poster of Malala that once emblazoned the wall of the assembly hall has been removed.
Children scrambled to hide from the camera and the school principal, Selma Naz, spoke quickly and in hushed tones.
“We have had threats; there are so many problems. It is much more dangerous for us after Malala’s shooting and all the attention that she is getting,” said Naz. “The Taliban are very dangerous. They have gone from Swat, but still they have a presence here. It is hidden, but it is here. We all have fear in our hearts.”
An armed commando now stands guard outside the school’s massive black steel front door.
Naz, who started as school principal three months ago, said it doesn’t help that Malala’s assailant is still at large.
The attacker will likely never be caught, said Ahmed Shah, a family friend, noting that police rarely even investigate an incident if the Taliban take credit for it. Fear among judges generally leads to acquittals anyway, said Swat lawyer Aftab Alam.
