Malala: Nobel laureate to a Twitter troll

Posted on by Team Epistle News
Estimated read time 4 min read

Malala Yousafzai, the 22-year old Pakistani Nobel laureate who now lives in Birmingham, is being accused of “sharing fake news & peddling lies” on her Twitter profile with regards to Kashmir.

The Nobel prize winner, on September 14th, sent out a series of tweets sympathizing with Kashmiris. Kashmir is a disputed region between India, Pakistan & China with all controlling some parts of it. India recently bifurcated, and made amendments in its Kashmir that led to mixed responses received from leaders around the world.

In one of her Tweets, Malala said “”I feel purposeless and depressed because I can’t go to school. I missed my exams on August 12 and I feel my future is insecure now. I want to be a writer and grow to be an independent, successful Kashmiri woman. But it seems to be getting more difficult as this continues.””

In reality, August 12 was a national holiday for Eid-Ul-Zuha across India. Meaning that no exams were held on the day.

2019 Holiday Calendar, published by the Government of India on www.india.gov.in

Twitter was quick to pick up on her tweets. “Malala was attacked by Taliban in 2012 and that led to a nobel peace prize and her activism there after. But number of times she has ever tweeted on Taliban? Zero. She is not a peace activist, she is just a PR agent available for a price.” wrote a user.

Sanjay Dixit, an author, wrote “This fraud keeps her lips sealed when Hindu and Sikh girls are abducted, raped, forcibly converted and married off in the name of Islam. @malala is a disgrace.”

In recent weeks, there have been multiple incidents of forced conversions in Pakistan. With Hindus, Christians & Sikhs being the targets. With a lawmaker from Pakistan’s ruling party escaping Pakistan to seek asylum in India. Malala has never tweeted on either of these issues.

Another user wrote “Dear Child, Charity starts at home. Suggest you first – Speak with disappearing Hindus Sikhs & Christians of Pakistan. Speak about disappearing Baloch Pashtuns Shias of various parts of Pakistan. Speak out to close terror infrastructure on Pakistan soil. Have a happy Day”

The last time Malala visited her homeland was in 2018, for four days. Malala has won over 50 awards and a Canadian honorary citizenship for her “activism for female education”.

By Daniel Warsaw

Daniel is a freelance writer, and an expert in South Asian geopolitics.