Nobel laureate Malala 'slated' for musical co-credit with Hillary Clinton

Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai faced a backlash in her native Pakistan on Wednesday, after the premier of a Broadway musical she co-produced with former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

The musical, titled "Suffs" and playing in New York since last week, depicts the American women's suffrage campaign for the right to vote in the 20th century.

However Malala Yousafzai, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014, has been condemned by some for partnering with Clinton, an outspoken supporter of Israel's war against Hamas.

Pakistan has seen many fiercely emotional pro-Palestinian protests since the war in Gaza began last October.

"Her theatre collaboration with Hillary Clinton — who stands for America's unequivocal support for genocide of Palestinians — is a huge blow to her credibility as a human rights activist," popular Pakistani columnist Mehr Tarar wrote on social media platform X. "I consider it utterly tragic."

Whilst Clinton has backed a military campaign to remove Hamas and rejected demands for a ceasefire, she has also explicitly called for protections for Palestinian civilians.

Malala has publically condemned the civilian casualties and called for a ceasefire in Gaza.

The New York Times reported the 26-year-old wore a red-and-black pin to the "Suffs" premier last Thursday, signifying her support for a ceasefire. But author and academic Nida Kirmani said on X that Malala Yousafzai's decision to partner with Clinton was "maddening and heartbreaking at the same time. What an utter disappointment."

Malala Yousafzai and her husband Asser Malik attend the "Suffs" Broadway opening night performance at the Music Box Theatre. AP

Clinton served as America's top diplomat during former president Barack Obama's administration, which oversaw a campaign of drone strikes targeting Taliban militants in Pakistan and Afghanistan's borderlands.

Malala earned her Nobel Peace Prize after being shot in the head by the Pakistani Taliban as she pushed for girl's education as a teenager in 2012.

However the drone war killed and maimed scores of civilians in Malala Yousafzai's home region, spurring more online criticism of the youngest Nobel Laureate, who earned the prize at 17.

Malala is often viewed with suspicion in Pakistan, where critics accuse her of pushing a Western feminist and liberal political agenda on the conservative country.

Agence France-Presse