Taliban do not consider women as human beings: Malala Yousafzai

ISLAMABAD: Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai has severely criticized the Afghan Taliban, saying that they do not consider women as human beings and have deprived them of the right to education for a decade.

Speaking at a two-day conference on girls’ education entitled opportunities and challenges in Muslim societies, she thanked the Muslim World League for bringing them together.

She said that 120 million girls in the world could not go to school, and of them, 10 million girls are in Pakistan.

Malala Yousafzai strongly criticized the ongoing aggression of the Zionist state in Palestine and said that Israel destroyed the entire education system in Gaza, Palestinian children sacrificed their lives and their future.

She said that the purpose of the conference will not be fulfilled “if we do not talk about the education of Afghan girls as the right to education has been taken away by the Taliban for a decade.”

She said that the Taliban have made more than a hundred laws to take away the rights of women as the Taliban do not consider women as human beings.

She said that Taliban disguise their crimes in cultural and religious justification, and “we must make it very clear that there is nothing Islamic about it, these policies do not reflect the teachings of Islam.”

Malala Yousafzai said that “these are violations of human rights, which cannot be justified by any cultural or religious excuse.”

It should be remembered that the Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai had arrived in Pakistan on Saturday to participate in the conference on girls’ education.

Malala Yousafzai was received by the Parliamentary secretary education on her arrival in Pakistan.

In her X message, Malala said she was excited to attend the conference on girls’ education with Muslim leaders from around the world.

Also read: Malala Yousafzai ‘overwhelmed and happy’ to be back in Pakistan

She had said that she would speak at the conference about the right of all girls to go to school and holding the Taliban accountable for crimes against Afghan women and girls.

Hosted by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, the two-day international conference titled “Women’s Education Challenges and Opportunities in Muslim Societies” is ongoing at the Jinnah Convention Centre in which around 150 delegations from 44 countries are participating.

The conference is being jointly hosted by the Islamic League and Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif.

The conference was inaugurated by Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif, OIC Secretary General Hussain Brahim Taha, Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar and other ministers participated in the opening ceremony of the conference.

The purpose of the conference is to establish a network between governments, Islamic and civil organisations regarding the education of girls.