Zee Media Bureau
London: Pakistani schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai who was a year shot at on her school bus after angering the Taliban with her brave and outspoken pleas for girls to be educated, on Monday while describing those horrific moments during an interview said that discussions with the Taliban were needed to achieve peace.
The little girl, who was shot in the head by a gunman on a school bus near her home, had no clue that unknowingly she came under the radar of the world`s most vulnerable `Islamic` terror outfit the `Taliban`.
Yousafzai, 16, for the first time described the entire incident (attack by Taliban) on a special BBC Panorama programme titled "Shot for Going to School". She was shot on her way home from school in the valley of Swat in north-west Pakistan on October 9, 2012.
Also Read: Will try to kill Malala Yousufzai again, Taliban warns
While reiterating her views that talks with Taliban is the only solution to achieve peace,
Malala said, "We must talk to the Taliban to get peace."
Despite the Taliban`s inhuman act, Malala, who was shot by the terror outfit in Pakistan`s restive Swat valley in October 2012, always pitched for dialogues to end war, she said, "The best way to solve problems and to fight against war is through dialogue," she said.
The heinous incident of targeting of a schoolgirl who had spoken out for girls` rights to education caused outrage in Pakistan as well as around the world.
While denouncing the act of Taliban as anti-Islam, Malala said, "They must do what they want through dialogue," she said.
"Killing people, torturing people and flogging people… it`s totally against Islam. They are misusing the name of Islam," She added.
Malala was airlifted to Birmingham and spent months in hospital for several operations to repair her skull. She now lives and goes to school in the British city but wishes to return to her country of birth and enter politics.
While adding that she has a strong intention to bring change in Pakistan, Malala added, "I hope that a day will come (when) the people of Pakistan will be free, they will have their rights, there will be peace and every girl and every boy will be going to school."
"I will be a politician in my future. I want to change the future of my country and I want to make education compulsory," she said in her first in-depth interview since the attack.
Well known "The bad thing in our society and in our country is that you always wait for someone else to come," Malala said.
Malala also described the day of the attack for the first time in the interview.
She said the street her school bus was travelling on was unusually deserted before the vehicle was flagged down and the gunman opened fire.
While recounting that fateful day, Mala said, "I could see that there was no-one at that time(When Taliban shot on her). Usually there used to be so many people and boys and they used to be standing in front of shops. But today... it was vacant."
Well known with her first name, Malala marked her 16th birthday with a live address from UN headquarters and has been lauded by a former British Prime Minister David Cameron as "an icon of courage and hope".
While admitting that Britain gave a culture shock to her family, Malala said, "Especially for my mother because we had never seen that women would be that much free -- they would go to any market, they would be going alone with no men, no brothers and fathers."
"I`m not becoming western, I`m still following my own culture, the Pashtun culture," she said, expressing her desire to return to Pakistan.
The pupil of Edgbaston School for Girls in Birmingham asked fellow British students to regard education as precious. "I want to tell the students of UK to think that it is very precious, it`s very prestigious, go to school," she said.
On being a front-runner for the Nobel Peace Prize, Malala said, "If I win the Nobel Peace Prize, it would be a great opportunity for me, but if I don`t get it, it`s not important because my goal is not to get Nobel Peace Prize, my goal is to get peace and my goal is to see education of every child."
She will know the result by the end of this week, which coincides with the launch of her memoirs "I Am Malala".
Meanwhile, Pakistan Taliban spokesperson Shahidullah Shahid said that Malala was attacked not because of her education campaign, but because of her attack on Islam.
"We didn`t target her for spreading education in her area, we targeted her for making jokes of Islam, and that was enough reason for attacking her…. if we found her again then we would definitely try to kill her and will feel proud on her death," he said.
With agency inputs
