RECENTLY I read a book, ‘The Diary of a Young Girl, Anne Frank’. The book is actually an edited version of the diary by a Jew, teenager Anne Frank, who secretly kept a diary from June 12,1942, to August 1, 1944.

Initially, she wrote strictly for herself. But after a radio announcement of publishing the eyewitness accounts of World War II, Anne Frank reset her diary pages.

The edited version of Anne Frank’s dairy was first published posthumously in 1989. Anne Frank died in mysterious circumstances when she had not yet reached her 16th birthday. The diary of a young girl presented the eyewitness accounts of World War II and the victims who suffered.

It is originally in other languages but later on it was translated into English by Susan Massotty.

Despite being of a different origin, birthplace, religion and ethnicity, Malala of Swat and Anne Frank of Dutch origin have many features in common. Both of them are teenagers. Anne Frank started writing a dairy at a very tender age when she was only 13. Malala also started keeping written records of the events occurring in Swat at about the same age. Both are female members of society who dared to raise their voice against the tyrants of their age. It is again a common feature that both writers suffered at the hands of their own people: the former at the hands of Hitler’s army during World War II and the latter at the hands of the Taliban.

Anne Frank died in 1980 while Malala Yousufsai survived a brutal attack allegedly by the Taliban. She is still alive and wants to contribute towards women’s emancipation and promotion of education in Pakistan.

How is the idea of publishing the diary of Malala who is a real symbol of courage and dignity?

Z.A. ZULFI     Booni, Chitral