Journalist and social activist Yana Mir, originally from Jammu and Kashmir, received the Diversity Ambassador award from the UK Parliament. In a speech that has gone viral, Ms. Mir refuted “propaganda” against Jammu and Kashmir by stating that she is “not a Malala Yousafzai,” the Pakistani Nobel Peace Prize winner who fled to the UK.

Ms. Mir declared, “I’m not a Malala Yousafzai…because I’m safe and free in my homeland Kashmir, which is part of India,” during a gathering organized by the Jammu and Kashmir Study Centre, UK. I will never flee my country and look for safety in yours (the UK). I’ll never be as successful as Malala Yousafzai”.

Ms Mir then slammed the Nobel laureate for “defaming” India by calling Kashmir “oppressed” and said “I object to all such toolkit members from social media and foreign media who never cared to visit Kashmir in India but fabricate stories of oppression…I urge you to stop polarizing Indians on the grounds of religion. We won’t allow you to break us.”

She made a request at the end of her speech, saying, “Stop coming after us and let my Kashmir community live in peace.”

More than a million people have viewed the video on X (formerly Twitter).

In the presence of Bob Blackman and Virendra Sharma, both MPs, Ms. Mir accepted the Diversity Ambassador Award from UK MP Theresa Villiers. British-Indian MP Virendra Sharma represents the opposition Labour Party from Ealing Southhall, which is close to London.

Actor Anupam Kher was among the users who congratulated Ms. Mir on X.

The Jammu and Kashmir Study Centre (JKSC), UK, hosted ‘India’s Sankalp Divas’ at the House of Commons in the Parliament in London. JKSC is a think tank that is dedicated to studying Jammu and Kashmir and the issues surrounding it.