Malala Yousafzai: Pray for my daughter, says father of schoolgirl shot by Taliban

http://www.telegraph.co.uk

The father of a girl shot by the Pakistani Taliban has the asked the world to pray for her survival as she is transferred from a provincial hospital to a more up-to-date facility in the city of Rawalpindi.

Ziauddin Yousafzai said doctors estimated 14-year-old Malala still had only a 50% chance of survival. She was shot as she travelled home from school on Tuesday. The Pakistan Taliban claimed responsibility and said Malala, who sprang to prominence for a blog describing life under extremist rule and for her campaign to get more girls into school, was guilty of preaching "secularism". A spokesman said they would try to kill her again if she survived. Mr Yousafzai told The Daily Telegraph he was grateful for international support but said his daughter still needed the worldﾒs prayers. "They should pray for her early recovery and support the army's campaign against Taliban. They should help us to rebuild the Taliban-damaged schools," he said. Malala Yousafzai was being treated in an intensive care unit in the north-western city of Peshawar. Surgeons there removed a bullet from her neck on Wednesday and said her condition had improved slightly as a result. On Thursday, doctors decided to fly her by helicopter to the more sophisticated wards of the Armed Forces Institute of Cardiology in Rawalpindi, home to Pakistan's military. They said the next 24 hours were crucial for her survival. "Her condition is not yet out of danger despite improvement," Masood Kausar, governor of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, told reporters. Malala began her spirited campaign when she was just 11. She kept a daily diary for the BBC Urdu Service describing the brutal effects of Pakistan Taliban rule when they controlled the Swat Valley. The attempted assassination has horrified Pakistan. Politicians, human rights campaigners and commentators have condemned the attack. Campaigners have held demonstrations and vigils in towns and cities around the country. Local officials have announced a reward of 10m rupees (about £70,000) for information leading to the capture of the men behind the attack.