• Malala Yousafzai urges Muslim leaders not to legitimize the Taliban regime in Afghanistan.
• She describes the Taliban's policies as an establishment of gender apartheid aimed at erasing women from public life.
• The Nobel Peace Prize laureate calls for a collective Muslim uprising to defend the rights of girls and women.
• The international community is divided on how to engage the Taliban while addressing their repressive measures against women.
• Yousafzai aims to include gender apartheid in international law as a crime, highlighting the urgency for global action.

Nobel Peace Prize recipient Malala Yousafzai addressed a gathering of Muslim leaders in Islamabad during a summit focused on girls' education, where she urged them to firmly reject the oppressive Taliban government in Afghanistan. According to Yousafzai, the Taliban's regime has established a system of gender apartheid, which the United Nations has condemned, emphasizing their complete disregard for women's rights and their right to education. “Simply put, the Taliban do not see women as human beings,” Yousafzai remarked, criticising the group for its harsh restrictions that have banned girls from attending school beyond the sixth grade and severely limited women's roles in public life, as confirmed by a report from BBC.

Yousafzai, who was once targeted by the Pakistani Taliban for her advocacy for girls' education, expressed her belief that the international Muslim community must raise strong voices against such injustices. “It is essential to show true leadership and that there is nothing Islamic about the Taliban's actions,” she stated. Her passionate plea suggested that the fight against gender apartheid should not only be a personal commitment but a collective responsibility of Muslim leaders worldwide, calling for them to challenge and denounce what she termed as the Taliban’s oppressive laws throughout her speech at the summit, reported by SCMP.

The summit, organized by the Muslim World League and attended by delegates from various Muslim-majority nations, highlighted the urgent need for a united stand against the Taliban's policies. Yousafzai pointed out that a generation of Afghan girls faces being “robbed of its future” and emphasized that the concurrent crises in Afghanistan, Yemen, and other conflict-ridden areas have subtracted educational opportunities for many girls globally. Reiterating her stance on a global platform, she called for gender apartheid to be recognized as a crime against humanity, as reported by CNN.

While the Taliban declined to participate in the summit, Yousafzai's remarks have resonated with many in the international community, urging collaborative efforts to address and counteract the dire situation. “Now is the time to oppose such injustices,” she concluded, leaving the call for action echoing far beyond the confines of the conference room.

For further information, refer to the complete articles from India Times and VOA News.