had families of their own they’d know what to do Ziauddin thought this seemed really unfair and as soon as he was old enough he planned to do something about it But my dad had a really bad stutter which made speaking in public unbelievably scary In spite of his stutter Ziauddin entered a public speaking competition He practiced practiced and practiced and practiced until he knew his speech so well he could recite it in his sleep When the day of the competition rolled around Ziauddin was terrified A-hem But then he spoke and something amazing happened his anxiety melted away and he made it to the end of his speech without stuttering once 6
He even won first prize After that there was no stopping him Ziauddin’s dad saw a great future ahead for his son but it wasn’t the future Ziauddin had planned for himself Dad Dad I got into college To study medicine Shaheen I'm so proud No to study English I want to open a school for boys and girls If Ziauddin didn’t want to be a doctor his dad wasn’t going to pay his living expenses That meant Ziauddin couldn’t afford college 7
We can't let that brain of yours go to waste In the end Ziauddin did make it to college thanks to a family friend named Akbar Khan Akbar noticed the boy’s eloquence and admired his vision He insisted on lending him the money Ziauddin was thrilled It felt like his life was finally beginning It also happened to be an interesting time in Pakistani history The election happened during Ziauddin’s first term at college Lots of student organizations that had been banned under the previous government were suddenly active again Everyone was feeling optimistic With his experience of public speaking Ziauddin was a natural leader and soon he was making speeches chairing debates and leading demonstrations all over the campus And he became more dedicated than ever to his dream of opening a school Can't you get a smaller sign I can't see a thing 8
MALALA EXPLAINS PAKISTAN IN 1988 Politically Pakistan had been on a bit of a rollercoaster for years but just as my dad headed off to college in 1988 things were getting particularly exciting As part of India Pakistan had been ruled by the British for over 90 years You can vote Hooray No you can't Boo In 1947 we finally gained our independence Two separate countries were formed India with a mainly Hindu population and Pakistan with a mainly Muslim population Thirteen million people were forced to move and one million were killed in terrible riots Our new country would be a democracy represented by politicians who we the people elected hooray Except the military took control instead and those elections didn’t happen for twenty-three years Even then the military wasn’t happy to hand it over and in 1971 there was a war in which hundreds of thousands of people died The war led to a new country Bangladesh being formed Two years later Zulfikar Ali Bhutto of the Pakistan People’s Party PPP finally became Pakistan’s first properly elected leader WE LOVE YOU ZULFIKAR Zulfikar Zulfikar 9
