From The New York Times
By SEEMA JILANI
It was one of the most ruthless attacks of our time: three Pakistani schoolgirls were on their way home when the Taliban shot them. Their crime? Pursuit of an education. Malala Yousafzai was shot in the head and two other young women sustained injuries to their arms. “We are all Malala,” roared the world. Protestors marched and lit candlelight vigils. Malala was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize and became an iconic symbol for young women’s educational struggles.
We went about our self-congratulatory ways, assuming we had done something tangible to help. But we forgot the two others injured in the shooting, who are just as deserving of an education and no less heroic. One of them, Shazia Ramzan, plans to move with her family to the Punjab Province of Pakistan to escape the more volatile region of Swat. The other, Kainat Riaz, is wedged in no man’s land, with few options available to her given the economic stratum of her family. In November 2012, I visited Kainat at her house in Swat Valley.
The road to her village is edged by the Swat River, which lazily laps against majestic, ivory-crested mountains. Not long ago, the Taliban publicly hung men in the main square of Mingora, just a few miles from this epic terrain.
When I arrived at Kainat’s modest house I was greeted by Pakistani Army soldiers, who stood guard outside as a precaution against Taliban attacks. A velvety neon pink pencil bag sat on Kainat’s nightstand. She had carried it the day of the shooting. It was one of her most prized possessions, evidence of her zest for education.
She showed me the scarf she was wearing on the fateful day of the shooting. Her burgundy bloodstains were rusty smudges, now deeply ensconced into the fabric. “I sat across from Malala in the school van,” she began. “Suddenly, a man appeared. I fell over and cried in agony. I felt my shoulder getting more and more wet. I was worried about my friends.” Kainat had been shot in her upper right arm and was rushed to the hospital, where she necessitated treatment for several days.
