On October 9, 2012, Malala Yousufzai, a young Pakistani activist, was shot in the head while on her schoolbus by Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) gunmen for two reasons: her outspoken defense of girls’ rights to education, and her criticism of Taliban forces occupying her home region in the Swat Valley. Nearly four months later, after a near-complete recovery, she defiantly spoke out for the first time since her attack. In a video released today, the 15-year-old Yousufzai showed gratitude to those who prayed for her recovery, and vowed to continue her campaign for girls education: “I want to serve. I want to serve the people. I want every girl, every child, to be educated.”
When Yousufzai was shot, Islamabad had long resisted international calls to launch an offensive against extremist Taliban groups operating on the country’s western border with Afghanistan. But in the wake of the Taliban attack, government and military officials were confronted with strong domestic pressure to change their modus operandi. Popular outcry — which manifested itself in print and online media, small candlelight vigils, large political rallies, and television talk shows — was reinforced by condemnations from religious groups like the powerful Sunni Ittehad Council, which issued a fatwa, a religious decree condemning the attack on Yousufzai as un-Islamic. Ironically, TTP efforts to shut Yousufzai up led, in the eyes of some analysts, to an unprecedented unity among the Pakistani people “on the fundamental issue of being able to lead a normal life in a peaceful country.”
While the immediate clampdown Pakistani crowds were clamoring for never materialized, Islamabad has nonetheless adjusted its policy towards the Taliban (and Kabul) in recent months — although perhaps not in the hawkish direction many in those same crowds were hoping for. In a seeming endorsement of compromise-based tactics (at least for the time being), the Pakistan government professed their readiness to negotiate with domestic Taliban leaders. Islamabad also released several Taliban prisoners to aid the peace process in neighboring Afghanistan. Other gestures include hosting defense talks with top Afghan military leaders and attending Afghan-Pakistan cooperation talks in London today. These efforts can be explained in large part by Pakistan’s struggle to defeat a heightening home-grown insurgency against whom prior military campaigns have failed. They may also be, to some extent, the government’s interpretation of increasing public demands for pushback against the Taliban after the Yousufzai attack, and a subsequent pledge by top military chief General Ashfaq Kayani to pursue the country’s “war against terrorism and extremism” until its end.
Yousufzai is wisely staying in Britain for the time being (hopefully safe from Taliban retaliations). After her shooting, the young activist became an international symbol of resistance, garnering comparisons to American civil rights icon Rosa Parks and a nomination for the 2013 Nobel Peace Prize. But beyond her many international accolades, one of her most important legacies to date may be her galvanizing effect on her fellow Pakistanis.
The longevity of Pakistan’s shifting policy is less certain: factions within the Taliban, as well as fundamental differences on key issues, mean that negotiations with Pakistan’s government may stall before they even begin. And a purported commitment to regional peace will be put to the test next year when foreign troops leave Afghanistan, leaving a potential vacuum for Taliban groups across the border. As a result, Islamabad may have to adopt more radical measures — and perhaps answer public demands for a violent offensive — to combat the Taliban both within and without its borders. Which means that some of the momentum generated by the Taliban attack on Yousufzai may be channelled into a military campaign — a result to some degree not in keeping with the young education activist’s cause, and further proof of the sad, self-begetting tenacity of sociopolitical violence.
