Days after Malala Yousufzai made a passionate appeal at the UN for the education of children,the Taliban on Wednesday asked the teenage activist to return to Pakistan and join a madrasa in the restive northwest. Adnan Rashid,a Taliban fighter wanted for an assassination bid on former President Pervez Musharraf,wrote a letter to Malala. I advise you to come back home,adopt the Islamic and Pashtun culture,join any female Islamic madrasa near your hometown,study and learn the book of Allah,use your pen for Islam and the plight of Muslim ummah and reveal the conspiracy of the tiny elite who want to enslave the whole humanity for their evil agendas in the name of a new world order, Rashid wrote. The over 2,000-word letter dated July 15 was released to the media Wednesday. Rashid,a former air force personnel,tried to justify last years attack on the 16-year-old claiming that she was involved in an anti-Taliban campaign. Taliban never attacked you because of going to school; also please mind that Taliban or mujahideen are not against the education of men or women or girls. Taliban believe that you were intentionally writing against them and running a smear campaign to malign their efforts to establish Islamic system in Swat and your writings were provocative, he wrote. In the letter,Rashid said schools were being used by the Pakistani Army as barracks and transit camps. He referred to Malalas speech at the UN on Friday and claimed that she was playing into the hand of enemies. He wrote,You are using your tongue at the behest of others and you must know that if the pen is mightier than the sword,then the tongue is sharper and the injury of a sword can be healed but the injury of the tongue never heals,and in the wars a tongue is more destructive than any weapon. Malala and her family are currently in Britain,where she was flown for treatment after the Taliban attack.
