Malala urged the leaders at United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) to work towards peace in Kashmir. (File)A day after Nobel Peace prize winner and education rights activist Malala Yousafzai shared stories of girls and young women from Kashmir and appealed to the United Nations to help children return to school, BJP MP from Karnataka Shobha Karandlaje Sunday asked her “to spend some time working with minorities of Pakistan”.
In a Twitter post, Karandlaje reminded Malala of the persecution of girls of the minority communities in Pakistan. “Sincere request to the Nobel winner, to spend some time speaking with the minorities of Pakistan. To speak against the forceful conversation & persecution taking place on the minority girls in her own country! Developmental agendas got extended to Kashmir, nothing suppressed!”
Following the government’s decision to scrap special status of J&K under Article 370, Kashmir has been under a lockdown amidst anticipation of violence even though most of the restrictions have now been eased.
WATCH | Jammu & Kashmir Article 370 ‘scrapped’: What does it mean?
Referring to the clampdown on communication, Malala on Saturday said she had spent the past week speaking with people living and working in the Valley, including journalists, human rights lawyers and students.
Sincere request to the Nobel winner, to spend some time speaking with the minorities of Pakistan.
To speak against the forceful conversation & persecution taking place on the minority girls in her own country!
Developmental agendas got extended to Kashmir, nothing suppressed! https://t.co/Um3BmGuJwi
— Shobha Karandlaje (@ShobhaBJP) September 15, 2019
“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,” Yousufzai wrote on Twitter.
Malala also urged leaders at United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) to intervene and work towards peace in Kashmir. “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,” Malala tweeted.
The Nobel laureate also recounted stories of three Kashmiri girls with whom she had interacted. One of the girls said the current situation in Kashmir could be described as “absolute silence” and “really scary”. Meanwhile, another girl said she felt “purposeless and depressed” as she can’t go to school and was missing out on her exams. A third woman said, “People speaking out for us adds to our hope. I am longing for the day when Kashmir will be free of the misery we have been going through for decades.”
“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.”
— Malala (@Malala) September 14, 2019
“Pakistan doesn’t react to how it’s perceived in the world, carries forward their agenda and how Malala is helping run that agenda on Kashmir in the garb of her ‘concern’ for Kashmiri girls but am loving the meltdown Indians are having on behalf of Malala. So touching,” said Shiv Sena leader Priyanka Chaturvedi in a tweet.
The Jammu and Kashmir administration on Thursday in a press release had announced the steps undertaken to ensure normalcy in the state, claiming that 92% of the area had no restrictions anymore.
