EDITORIALS

Listen to your folks!

And don’t stay out after dark, either

— OF THE three Pakistani girls wounded in that attack in the Swat Valley-an attack not only on them, but on the very idea of equal education-two of them are now back in school.

Consider these two girls bonus victims, collateral damage. The Taliban surely does. The actual target of the hit, the life-loving, free-spirited, upward bound and ever-outspoken Malala Yousufzai, is still in the hospital. Her crime: speaking out in favor of education for girls. Her sentence: to be shot in the head by the Taliban. It happened back in early October on a school bus. Miss Malala is recovering. Slowly. With her wound, you can’t rush things.

Also shot in that same attack were Shazia Ramazan, 13, and Kainat Riaz, 16. You can’t be too picky when shooting little girls on a school bus, you know. Better to spray the place with bullets, and hope to get your target if only by accident. Whatever happens, there’s lots of blood and fear. That’s the important thing. So long as these young ladies are intimidated. A brave lot, our Taliban.

Both the Misses Shazia and Kainat are back in school again, Allah be thanked. But it sounds as if the girls are champing at the bit to be rid of all the security.

“They say I need police,” says Shazia. “But I say I don’t need any police. I don’t want the police to come with me to school because then I will stand out from the other students. But I shouldn’t.”

Dispatches say not only their school, but their neighborhood, is crawling with police. To which anybody concerned about these girls’ safety would say: Good.

“I am not afraid,” says Miss Kainat.

We don’t doubt it. But one can be brave without being foolhardy. And, lest we forget, Pakistan is a tough place. Certainly for girls.

“They [the Taliban] can’t stop us from going to school,” says Miss Shazia.

Maybe not. But they could shoot you. Again.

Consider this said with the right index finger wagging up and down, and a mama-and-papa look, left hand on hip, eyes squinted, vocal chords set on Stern.

Listen to your folks.

They know what’s best for you. Oh, yes they do. Don’t give us that look. One day you’ll understand. When you’re older. And maybe a mother yourself, inshallah. For now listen to the grown-ups who want you to grow up, too, and stop being so . . . so . . . teenaged. Parents know best, etc., etc.

Look forward to the day when your friend Malala joins you back at school. They say she’s recovering nicely if slowly, mashallah, in that English hospital-Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham. May all three of you young ladies soon go back to doing what teenaged girls are supposed to do. That is, studying, griping about teachers, giggling over boys, and generally living.

Young misses, there are bad people in the world. Let your parents and the police protect you from them.

You’re going to make a face when you hear this, again, but here goes: You’ll understand when you have kids.

Editorial, Pages 10 on 12/03/2012

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