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Published 19:06 IST, September 15th 2019

Heena Sidhu hits out at Malala Yousafzai over her tweet on Kashmir

Indian Olympian medalist Heena Sidhu on Sunday slammed Nobel Laureate Malala Yousafzai for her tweet claiming that lives of Kashmiris are disrupted in J&K.

Reported by: Apoorva Rao
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Indian Olympian medalist Heena Sidhu on Sunday slammed Nobel Laureate Malala Yousafzai for her tweet where she claimed to have quoted a young girl from Kashmir who has been allegedly unable go to school. In her tweet, she claims that Kashmiri local told her that she was depressed that owing to restrictions related to curfew, she couldn't go to school and appear for her exams, due to which her aspiration to be independent Kashmiri woman now seemed to be under a cloud. Sidhu retorted, reminding the leading activist -  who herself faced Taliban's bullets for going to school as a student in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa - of the security situation in the neighbouring country for women and whether Kashmiris will have a better fate there. She even asked Malala to lead her activism from her homeland first, before pontificating other nations.

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Read Heena Sidhu's tweet slamming Malala Yousafzai 

READ | Netizens laud Heena Sidhu's befitting reply to divisive Pakistan neta, tell her she 'hit the bullseye

Malala Yousafzai mum on atrocities faced by women from Pak's minority community?

Malala Yousafzai faced brickbats on Twitter for claiming to have spoken to Kashmiris and alleging that their life has been disrupted in the valley following the restrictions placed by the Centre and over the abrogation of Article 370. While the Centre has maintained that curfew and communication restrictions were placed in order to safeguard the people from terror attacks, Pakistan has used the situation to spin a narrative and gone as far to claim that not only are Kashmiris oppressed under the eye of heavy security presence and alleged lack of amenities, they have also been targetted in genocide. It appears that a Yousafzai, who herself is living in England, following the Taliban attack on her, is toeing the Pakistan line on the matter. Her alleged one-sided reporting of alleged disruption of life in Kashmir drew ire of netizens as there are several atrocities faced by girls of minor age belonging to religious minorities in Pakistan.

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Recent issues faced by Pakistan religious minorities 

In August, a Sikh girl in Pakistan's Lahore was abducted and allegedly forcibly converted to Islam. There have been reports of Hindu minor girls being abducted and forcibly converted to Islam recently. The reports of Christian woman Asiya Bibi's incarceration through the abuse the country's blasphemy laws is still fresh in public memory. Malala, it appears has not raised concerns over Pakistan's repeated ostracisation of the minority communities which has greatly affected young girls.

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18:29 IST, September 15th 2019