LONDON: Pakistani social activist and noble laureate Malala Yousufzai who just made the native country more proud after getting featured on the cover page of British fashion magazine Vogue also drews criticism with her purported comment about marriage that in a short time went viral on social media.
Expressing her thoughts with British women’s rights journalist Sirin Kale about getting hitched in today’s world, she said ‘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’?
The bold yet confusing statements of the 23-year-old garnered a lot of hate and she has been currently trending on micro-blogging site Twitter for expressing not-so-common opinions on the institution of marriage.
Pakistani origin Oxford graduate, who even stands before the hate against Muslim women for covering the head or for donning stereotype clothing, landed her in hot waters as it didn’t go well with Pakistani people.
Before pointing to the audacious statement – mentioned above – she said that ‘Thinking about relationships, you know, on social media, everyone’s sharing their relationship stories, and you get worried…If you can trust someone or not, and how can you be sure’.
Following the crucial interview with Vogue, Malala’s statement sparked schooling and lambasting as Pakistani actors, social activists, and even clerics took to social platforms to grill the youngest noble winner. The interview also divided some of the users who slammed her for promoting western culture in which living in an open relation seemed usual – as per their customs, while others supported her for opposing forced and underage marriages.
Amid all the uproar Mufti Shahabuddin Popalzai, the famous cleric from Qasim Khan mosque Peshawar also took to his official handle and tagged the father of Malala – Ziaduddin Yousaf. ‘A news report has been widely circulated on social media that your daughter has rejected the marriage institution and claimed that partnership is better than getting married’. Popalzai asked explanation from Malala’s father adding that ‘We are all deeply disturbed by her statement’.
Malala’s father then ‘clears the air’ stating that, ‘the specific statement on marriage was twisted and her comments were quoted out of context with sinister designs’. ‘There is no truth in it. The mainstream media and social media users have taken the statement out of context and shared it with concocted interpretations, he further added.
محترم مفتی پو پلزئ صاحب
ایسی کوئی بات نہیں۔ میڈیا اور سوشل میڈیا نے انکی انٹرویو کی اقتباس کو سیاق و سباق سے نکال کر تبدیل کرکے اپنی تاویلات کے ساتھ شئیر کیا ہے۔ اور بس۔— Ziauddin Yousafzai (@ZiauddinY) June 3, 2021
Popalzai then retweeted the tweet of Ziaduddin which started with ‘Clarification’. The Father of Malala clarified her statement in three points. Firstly, he negated the purported comment. Second, the public outcry stemmed from the statement which has been presented out of context. The words have been amended and twisted, he mentioned in the third point.
وضاحت !
ملالہ یوسفزئی کے والد گرامی نے تین اہم نکتے بیان کئے
1) بیان کی نفی کردی ۔
2) بات کو سیاق و سباق سے ہٹ کر پیش کیا گیا ہے
3) بیان کے الفاظ میں ردوبدل کی گئی ہے https://t.co/JlVrpxU6Ne— Mufti Shahabuddin Popalzai (@MuftiPopalzai) June 3, 2021
Meanwhile, Malala, who advocated women’s rights, didn’t comment on the matter till the filing of this story while as for now the statement from her father seems to be ‘her context’.
Here are some of the reactions of social media users and notables.
"نکاح کرنے کی کیا ضرورت ھے جب زنا کی سہولت موجود ھے۔۔۔ ملالہ "
بیٹا آپکی پیدائش پر لعنت
— VEENA MALIK (@iVeenaKhan) June 2, 2021
https://twitter.com/APMLOfficial_/status/1400404798432710662
Iconic, not least for the openness with which Malala talks about her thoughts on relationships, the pressure to conform, and the difficult pleasure of charting her own path. 👊🏾✨ https://t.co/JEylFKgwYx
— Mira Sethi (@sethimirajee) June 1, 2021
https://twitter.com/salmanjani12/status/1400402643378446336
