Taliban leader writes to Malala, expresses 'shock'
Islamabad, 18 July 2013: A Pakistani Taliban leader has expressed shock at the attack
last year on Malala Yousufzai, the 16-year-old education and women’s rights activist
who was shot in the head and neck in an assassination attempt.
“When you were
attacked it was shocking for me and I wished it would never have happened and that
I had advised you before the Taliban attacked you,” read a letter addressed to Malala,
and signed off by Adnan Rasheed, a member of the banned Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan
(TTP).
“I advise you to come back, adopt the Islamic and Pushtoon culture,
join any of the female Islamic madrassas near your home town, study and learn the
book of Allah, use your pen for Islam to bring the plight of Muslim ummah to light
and reveal the conspiracy of the tiny elite who want to enslave humanity for their
own evil agendas in the name of new world order,” he wrote.
Rasheed was among
a group of inmates who escaped from jail in Bannu last year. He had been sentenced
to death by a military court for the attempted assassination of former Pakistani president
General Pervez Musharraf in December 2003.
He said he had wanted to warn her
to cease her activism, but was unable to because of his detention. “I was thinking
how to approach you with a real or pseudo name, all my emotions were brotherly for
you because we belong to same Yousafzai tribe.” He said the letter, which runs to
more than 1,800 words, was written in a personal capacity.
In it, he refuted
Malala’s claim that she was targeted by the Taliban for her support for education,
claiming instead that she was attacked for intentionally running a smear campaign
against the group.
“First of all, the Taliban never attacked you because of
going to school or because of the fact that you were an education lover. The Taliban
or Mujahideen are not against the education of any man or woman.”
He wrote
that the teenager had attempted to “malign their [Taliban] efforts to establish an
Islamic system in Swat. Your writings were provocative.” Shortly after the attack,
the Taliban stated that it still intended to kill her. Malala, who sought refuge
in the UK, where she remains, has not responded to the letter.Source: UCAN