When Maria Toorpakai heard about the Manchester bombing, she knew what the victims and grieving families were going through. "I understand their pain, because we have been in this pain for a long time," Toorpakai told the audience at global activist gathering Oslo Freedom Forum. "We have seen these incidents in Pakistan. We are suffering from this cancer known as violence and extremism."
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But the Pakistani athlete also brought a message of hope, gained through years of struggle against prejudice and religious intolerance.
Toorpakai was born in South Waziristan, in Pakistan, where girls are banned from playing sport. But she was an active and unruly child – “always bruised and bleeding,” as she put it – and her parents encouraged her to channel her energy into weightlifting, then squash.
In order to take part, Toorpakai pretended to be a boy for the first 16 years of her life, using as a pseudonym her father’s affectionate nickname for her: Genghis Khan.
Even when Toorpakai’s gender was uncovered she continued to play squash, competing in international tournaments and eventually turning professional in 2006. But even though the President of Pakistan gave her the prestigious Salaam Pakistan Award in 2007, she was threatened by the Taliban: “Our family friends, who were doctors, teachers, were kidnapped," she says.
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The Taliban forced Toorpakai to give up the sport she loved. To keep herself safe, she locked herself in her house, practising squash by hitting the ball against the wall of her bedroom. She stayed there for three years. The only thing that kept her happy, she says, was picturing herself on the court “thinking that I’m on a podium and winning.”
Toorpaki knew she had to leave Pakistan to protect herself and her family. She sent email after email until eventually she was accepted to the national academy in Canada. Today, the 26-year-old is Pakistan's top female squash player, ranked 84 in the world. “I call it a miracle,” she says.
The attack in Manchester was reportedly directed against young girls, the focus of so much fear and loathing among patriarchal Islamist groups. Toorpaki says she understands not only the victims but also their oppressors: “I lived like a girl. I lived like a boy. I understand them both. I understand why we are facing so many problems.”
“Men have so many fears," she continues. “They cover their fears under the shadow of religion and culture. Women are taught to be weak – I was not like that. I was trained strong. Girls are taught to obey the rules, follow the rules. I was taught to break the rules.” She adds, “I stand for all those girls. And also boys.”
Now Toorpaki is setting up a foundation to improve access to sport and education in the tribal regions of Pakistan: “to reach out to these people so they can be known as athletes, doctors, engineers, scientists... We should reach out to those people and bring them out from that darkness." She says: “I believe in sports. I was a negative child, aggressive, always fighting, but through sports, I am transformed."
Her final message is to "girls all over the world": "To stand up for themselves. It's their life, they have to decide. They shouldn't live in fear because fear is taught."
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
