New Delhi : Several activists Tuesday organized a candle vigil to denounce religious fundamentalism and support Pakistani teenaged activist Malala Yousafzai who was shot in the head by Taliban gunmen earlier this month.
Holding posters of Malala, flowers and candles in their hands, the crowd gathered near Dargah Hazrat Nizamuddin in south Delhi and raised slogans supporting the rights activist while condemning those who “use guns and religion to coerce others into accepting their views”.
“Sadly, religious fundamentalism is on the rise not only in Pakistan but India as well. There is an urgent need for leaders from both the nations, who have a mass following, to share their view points,” said Faisal Khan, convenor of NGO Khudai Khidmatgar that organized the prayer meet along with other NGOs.
“The extremists use guns and religion to coerce others into accepting their views. I believe those who are intellectually weak resort to such measures,” he added.
The crowd observed a two minute silence for Malala, who is currently undergoing treatment in Britain and prayed for her speedy recovery.
A renowned campaigner for girls’ education, she was attacked on her way home from school and a bullet was removed from her skull. The Taliban said they targeted her for “promoting secularism.”
Malala Yousafzai came to prominence in 2009 at the age of 11, when she started writing a diary for BBC Urdu about life under the Taliban.