The Foreign Service Journal, September 2014

44 SEPTEMBER 2014 | THE FOREIGN SERVICE JOURNAL THE OP-ED THATWAS NEVER PUBLISHED “MALALA OF MAIWAND AND MALALA OF MINGORA: TWO BRAVE WOMEN WHOSE COURAGE INSPIRES OTHERS” A few days ago, a 14-year-old girl named Malala Yousafzai was shot and nearly killed while traveling on a school bus near her home in Mingora, Swat. Following surgery in Peshawar, she was moved to a hospital in Rawal- pindi where she remains in critical condition. “I am ready for any situation,” she had stated several months before the attack, defending her long-standing wish to attend school and receive an education. “Even if a terrorist comes to kill me, I will tell him that he is wrong. I won’t back down.” Ehsanullah Ehsan, a Taliban spokesman in Pakistan, praised the attack that nearly killed Malala and wounded at least one of her classmates. “Let this be a lesson,” he commented, publicly affirming Taliban support for violence against young girls even as politicians, journalists and ordi- nary people across Pakistan condemned the attack. Perhaps less well known is the fact that Malala her- self was named after an Afghan national hero—Malala of Maiwand—who offered another example of courage at the famous battle that took place west of Kandahar more than 130 years ago. “I named her Malala after being inspired by Malala of Maiwand,” her father, Ziauddin Yousafzai, is reported as having told journalists in Pakistan. “She has fulfilled my dream and played the role of Malala.” Relations between Afghanistan and Pakistan are sometimes difficult. However, the fact that a Pashtun father living in the mountains of northern Pakistan would name his daughter after a hero of Afghanistan who was born and raised near Kandahar more than a century and a half ago is remarkable. More importantly, the lives of both young girls named Malala offer an important example of defiance as well as selfless service, one that people everywhere can admire and appreciate. The story of Malala of Maiwand is, of course, already well-known across Afghanistan. Students read about her in their school books and hear about her from their parents. Schools and health centers are sometimes named after her. Born in 1861 in a village southwest of Maiwand, Malala was the daughter of a poor Afghan shepherd. Reportedly, she was engaged to a soldier in the army of Ayub Khan, son of the Afghan Emir Sher Ali Khan. In fact, the Battle of Maiwand took place in July 1880 on what was supposed to be her wedding day. As the battle between the Afghans and the British raged, it seemed that the Afghan army was facing certain defeat. Seeing that the situation was desperate, Malala of Maiwand took hold of the Afghan flag and appealed to the soldiers around her to fight on. When one of the Afghan flag-bearers standing beside her was killed, she took off her veil, waved and shouted the now- famous words: With a drop of my young love’s blood, Shed in defense of the motherland, I will put a mark of beauty on my forehead Such as would shame the roses in the garden. Shortly afterward, Malala of Maiwand—not yet 20 years old—was herself killed in battle. Her grave in south- ern Afghanistan is visited to this day. During subsequent decades her story inspired countless others, providing an example of bravery among Afghan women that lives on, not just in Afghanistan but in neighboring Pakistan and beyond. The fact that Malala Yousafzai fromMingora in Swat valley was named after Malala of Maiwand lends a special poignancy to the story. Certainly, the two Malalas together represent a high order of bravery, setting an example of female courage and heroism, not only for Pushtuns but for people everywhere. Perhaps during the coming years, the Malala who is now recovering from her surgery at a hospital in Rawalpindi will offer similar inspiration to children and adults around the world, leaving an especially strong mark among those who value education—by being so committed to the education of girls that she was willing to give up her own life to achieve it. –Jonathan Addleton, September 2012 Wikimedia Commons/Claude Truong-Ngoc Garen Ewing Malala Yousafzai Malala of Maiwand