Malalai works for the BBC World Service Trust's Afghan Woman's Hour programme in Afghanistan. On 12 November 2008, she was the only journalist allowed to speak to the schoolgirl victims of an acid attack by suspected militants in Kandahar.
Here she tells editor Safia Haleem about her experiences that day, and of how her work has led to her learning more about the scale of human rights abuses and incidents of violence against women in Afghanistan.
A normal day
On 12 November I started my day as normal, and was sitting down for breakfast at 9am when I got a phone call from a friend telling me some of the girls walking to a nearby school had been attacked with acid.
I tried to call other friends from the same school, but they were not allowed to use the telephone inside the school.
I guessed that the victims would be taken to the nearest hospital, so I called a female doctor I had interviewed earlier for another report. The doctor confirmed that two of the girls had been taken to the hospital, one of them with serious burns.
I thought somebody had thrown a grenade at the house but later discovered it was because of a powerful bomb at the school
I asked to speak to one of them. The doctor agreed but said I had to get written permission otherwise I would not be allowed by human rights agencies to see the girls.
She agreed to get permission for me and told me to go to the hospital for 12 noon. I started to finish up a report to be sent for broadcast.
Second attack
I had about an hour and was writing my script when at around 11am a big bang shook the house and the window smashed in. Luckily, a thick curtain on the window protected me from the glass.
I thought somebody had thrown a grenade at the house but later discovered it was because of a powerful bomb at the school.
There were mostly women and children in the house and I spent the next 15 minutes checking if everybody was safe. I felt shaken but decided to still go to the hospital to speak to the girl who had suffered burns in the acid attack.
When I arrived at the hospital, some victims of the bomb were there and I saw an old man who was wounded and sitting in the courtyard of the hospital with a leg.
He wrapped the leg in a sheet which was covered in blood, and when I asked whose leg it was, the man replied that it was his son's.
The courage to speak
At that moment I was called to the Intensive Care Unit and saw one of the girls who had been attacked. She was hardly 15 years old.
Her face was swollen red and covered with white cream and her eyes could not be seen. She could hardly speak but had the courage to tell me what happened.
She was walking to the school wearing a burka like any other day, when some men suddenly appeared on motorbikes in front of the girls, removed their veils and threw liquid acid on their faces. Then just as suddenly they were gone.
A nearby shopkeeper came out with a sheet and covered her. Later he put water on her burns and she was taken to the hospital.
Hopes for a new life
I spoke to the girl's mother who was sitting by the bed. She told me they had been refugees in Iran and had come back in the hope that they could start a new life in their own country.
She had questions for the government, for the attackers and for society: "why has the government failed to protect school children? Why did the attackers choose schoolgirls? If girls do not get an education, how will we have women doctors in hospitals?"
Violence against women
The Afghan Woman's Hour programme gives a voice to women
Unfortunately, this is not an isolated incidence of violence against women in Afghanistan.
Journalists working for the Afghan Woman's Hour programme in the country often find women who have either suffered or are still victims of brutality either from husbands or other women in their extended family.
Afghan Woman's Hour is a radio programme which gives a voice to women who have suffered years of torture. Thousands of women get the courage to find help when they listen to the life stories of other women.
The programme not only gives a voice to women, but also talks to representatives of relevant government departments, who must face challenging questions from women reporters.
The programme is broadcast weekly in two languages (Pashto and Dari) and always covers stories of human rights abuses. During the UN 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence from 17 November - 10 December (also the 60th Anniversary of the declaration of Human Rights) the AWH programme has been carrying special reports and discussions on the topic of violence against women.
Story told to and translated from Pashto by Safia Haleem, editor Afghan Woman's Hour programme. The reporter's name has been changed to protect her identity.