The ‘progressive’ Bangladeshi writer Taslima Nasreen on Tuesday expressed her shock after Nobel Peace Prize laureate and education ‘activist’ Malala Yousafzai (24) married a Pakistani man Asser Malik instead of a handsome progressive English man.
“Quite shocked to learn Malala married a Pakistani guy. She is only 24. I thought she went to Oxford University for study, she would fall in love with a handsome progressive English man at Oxford and then think of marrying not before the age of 30. But..” Taslima posted on her Twitter timeline.
Quite shocked to learn Malala married a Pakistani guy. She is only 24. I thought she went to Oxford university for study, she would fall in love with a handsome progressive English man at Oxford and then think of marrying not before the age of 30. But..
— taslima nasreen (@taslimanasreen) November 9, 2021
In her statement, she seems to be saying that she expected Malala’s education at Oxford University will broaden her view and she will marry not before the age of 30. Her post triggered a salvo of comments as some criticized for meddling into the personal life of Malala whereas some said that Malala is a Sharia Barbie and there was nothing surprising in her marrying a Pakistani man.
On Tuesday (November 9) Malala made the official announcement of her nikah (Islamic marriage contract) ceremony. “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. Please send us your prayers. We are excited to walk together for the journey ahead,” she posted information on her Twitter handle.
Today marks a precious day in my life.
— Malala (@Malala) November 9, 2021
Asser and I tied the knot to be partners for life. We celebrated a small nikkah ceremony at home in Birmingham with our families. Please send us your prayers. We are excited to walk together for the journey ahead.
📸: @malinfezehai pic.twitter.com/SNRgm3ufWP
Malala married barely six months after she questioned institution of marriage
In June this year, Malala had questioned the institution of the marriage in an interview given to British magazine Vogue. “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?” Quite little is known about Asser Malik except he works for the Pakistan Cricket Board. It seems that both were known to each other from the past few years.
Malala gained prominence after Taliban shot at her in Pakistan
Malala a native of Mingora in Swat district of northwestern Pakistan is settled in Britain. She fled to Britain after being shot in the head by Talibani terrorists in Pakistan on October 9, 2012. She and two of her classmates were shot when they were traveling home from school in a bus. She was airlifted to Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham and she survived. It is said that Talibani shot her since she was insisting to go to school. In 2014 she got Nobel Peace Prize. Malala despite speaking for girls, gender issues and claiming to be a liberal, remained a true Muslim who refused to discard her scarf.
Malala often accused of maintaining silence on the issue of Islamic fundamentalism
Despite she was attacked by Taliban, there have been occasions when she remained silent on Islamic fundamentalism or spoke quite late and too little. While speaking at Jaipur Literature Festival she spread the falsehood that the Muslims and Dalits are minorities in India and are at risk.
In August 2019 after the Narendra Modi government scrapped Article 370 from Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), Malala meddled in the internal matter of India and said that she was worried people of J&as South Asia was her home. Again in September 2019, she spread fake news about the arrest of a large number of people in J&K and how a girl could not appear for her examination due to security restrictions.
Even when the Taliban took over Afghanistan amid gross violations of human rights, Malala maintained a stoic and deafening silence as the world watched. A few days later, she broke her silence and said she was ‘worried’ about the situation developing in Afghanistan.
