Malala Yousafzai and Asser Malik | Photo Credit: Twitter/@Malala/@malinfezehai
Malala Yousafzai and Asser Malik | Photo Credit: Twitter/@Malala/@malinfezehai
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New Delhi: Pakistanis can’t keep calm about 24-year-olds making choices for their own life. But this time the woman in question is no ordinary citizen. It’s Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai who recently announced her nikkah. Some people, however, felt necessary to dig up an interview she gave to British Vogue this year about her sceptical view on marriage.

Malala surprised everyone with the news of her marriage to Pakistan Cricket Board’s manager Asser Malik on Tuesday. Announcing her wedding to Malik on Twitter, Malala wrote, “Today marks a precious day in my life. Asser and I tied the knot to be partners for life. We celebrated a small nikkah ceremony at home in Birmingham with our families”.

Wishes poured in for Malala and her partner for their new innings. Prominent names like Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Emirati princess Sheikha Hend bint Faisal, Priyanka Chopra and Apple CEO Tim Cook have congratulated the young couple.

The infamous Vogue interview

Some people, however, could not help but drag her old comments in an interview given to British Vogue in June this year regarding partnerships.“I still don’t understand why people have to get married. If you want to have a person in your life, why do you have to sign marriage papers, why can’t it just be a partnership?” She had said.

Twitter users cast a shadow of confusion over her decision. They suggested that Malala was backtracking on her views, as if people aren’t allowed to change their opinions or take actions that might, on the face of it, appear contradictory.

One Twitter user said it could be the ‘Pakistani mother pressure’ that forced her to make the decision, while others were happy to find a cricket connection, and called her a “cricketing royalty”.

Existential crisis over Malala’s marriage

For some, the news has triggered an existential crisis. From being awarded the prestigious Nobel Prize at the age of 17 to graduating from Oxford to getting married at 24, Malala has ticked all boxes, giving some sections of Gen Z major FoMo.

Twitter user Jasir Shahbaz went a step ahead and gave advice to all cousins of Malala to “stay low” in order to not be overshadowed by their sister’s achievements in life.

Can we now say marriage is for losers? Twitter users found the answer as one claimed that she must have tied the knot before 90 per cent of those people who criticised her when the British Vogue interview was published.

 

The couple had caught the eyeballs earlier this year during Malala’s birthday on 12 July, when her now-husband Asser Malik posted their picture on Twitter, albeit with a “necessary cameo”.

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