Malala Yousafzai, Nobel Prize laureate and Pakistani activist for female education, has spoken about Kashmir for the second time after receiving massive criticism.
In her recent Twitter thread, she started off by clarifying that she has been in touch with the people living and working in Indian occupied Kashmir (IoK), including journalists, human rights lawyers and students.
https://twitter.com/Malala/status/1172868495417237506
“I wanted to hear directly from girls living in Kashmir right now. It took a lot of work from a lot of people to get their stories because of the communications blackout. Kashmiris are cut off from the world and unable to make their voices heard.” said Malala.
https://twitter.com/Malala/status/1172868497023672320
“Here is what three girls told me, in their own words: “The best way to describe the situation in Kashmir right now is absolute silence. We have no way of finding out what’s happening to us. All we could hear is the steps of troops outside our windows. It was really scary.
“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.
https://twitter.com/Malala/status/1172868499473125376
“People speaking out for us adds to our hope. I am longing for the day when Kashmir will be free of the misery we’ve been going through for decades.”
https://twitter.com/Malala/status/1172868502182666240
“I am deeply concerned,” continued Malala, “about reports of 4,000 people, including children, arbitrarily arrested & jailed, about students who haven’t been able to attend school for more than 40 days, about girls who are afraid to leave their homes.”
She then requested the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) to make effort to bring peace in Kashmir to provide education and save the future of the youth.
https://twitter.com/Malala/status/1172868503436701696
Aside from from the earlier criticism she received for not raising her voice against the unrest in IOK, Malala’s recent tweets received major flak from Indian users who began calling her a hypocrite for remaining silent about the treatment of minorities in Pakistan.
https://twitter.com/PramodM61231713/status/1173632281958912000
https://twitter.com/Ashish0u/status/1173532978024108033
https://twitter.com/sureshk68850131/status/1173523015625101317
https://twitter.com/RishiMishra_/status/1172922869786955776
https://twitter.com/rahulnamo1700/status/1173549484199931904
https://twitter.com/AwesomEngineer1/status/1173081666442543105
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