‘Another Hindu girl butchered in Pak, cat got Malala’s tongue’: Katie Hopkins
On Tuesday, right-wing commentator and columnist Katie Hopkins lashed out at Malala Yousafzai over the death of a Hindu girl in Pakistan.
On Tuesday, right-wing commentator and columnist Katie Hopkins lashed out at Malala Yousafzai over the death of a Hindu girl in Pakistan.
She wrote: “Another Hindu girl, butchered in Pakistan. And suddenly the world is deaf and dumb. Where are you now Malala? Cat got your tongue?”
Pakistan on several occasions has promised to safeguard the interests of minority communities in the nation. However, rampant attacks on minorities narrate a different story.In another incident, a first-year medical student, Namrita Chandani, who also belonged to Ghotki town, was found lying on a charpoy on Tuesday with a piece of cloth tied to her neck while her hostel room was locked from inside.
Malala claims Kashmiri girl missed her exam on Aug 12, Twitterati point out it was Eid on that day
It would also be ironic to note that the incidents come just days after Pakistan Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi ranted false narratives against India over the so-called human rights violations in Kashmir at the 42nd UN Human Rights Council session in Geneva.Such incidents have raised a furore in India, with several political leaders across parties asking for action to be taken against the perpetrators.Pakistan has been condemned internationally for cracking down on the minorities living in the country.
Islamabad is also reportedly discriminating against its religious minorities, which is manifested in various forms of targeted violence, mass murders, extrajudicial killings, abduction, rapes, forced conversion to Islam, etc., making the Pakistani Hindus, Christians, Sikhs, Ahmadiyyas, and Shias one of the most persecuted minorities in the region.Various activists belonging to the Baloch, Pashtuns, and Sindhi communities have been holding protests in Geneva to expose Pakistan over its illegal occupation and suppression of the minorities.
On Sunday, Indian Twitters users hit out at Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai. The Pakistani advocate had written an account in which she claimed a Kashmiri girl told her: “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.”
However, a lot of Twitter users pointed out, that August 12 was Eid which would mean that schools would be closed across India, meaning the likelihood of an exam on that day is as possible as Imran Khan speaking sense.
Also, schools had been shut for 15 days in the Valley, in the wake of elaborate security arrangements put in place by the Centre following the abrogation of Article 370.
Schools were reopened on August 20.
“I am asking leaders, at #UNGA and beyond, to work towards peace in Kashmir, listen to Kashmiri voices and help children go safely back to school," Yousafzai said in a series of tweets on Saturday.
Restrictions were imposed in the Kashmir Valley since India on August 5 revoked Article 370 of the Constitution that gave special status to Jammu and Kashmir and also bifurcated the state into two Union Territories.
"I am deeply concerned about reports of 4,000 people, including children, arbitrarily arrested and 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 wrote.
In her tweets, Malala also shared her account of corresponding with people over the past week belonging to various walks of life, including journalists, human rights lawyers and students.
"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," she said.
Yousafzai has also commented on the Kashmir issue in the past where she had appealed for an end to the conflict in the region after relations between India and Pakistan nosedived following the revocation of Article 370.
She had called on all South Asians, the international community and authorities to respond to the Kashmiris' suffering.