Pakistanis pray for teen blogger shot by Taliban; condemn brazen attack

Perhaps it was the prayers of an outraged nation, perhaps her own indomitable spirit. But Malala Yousufzai, the 14-year-old school girl sought out and shot by the Taliban for blogging against them, was slowly recuperating Wednesday morning from the brazen attack that almost snatched her young life. Doctors successfully removed a bullet lodged in her neck after three hours of surgery, and said her condition was no longer critical. "Inshallah (God willing), she will survive," said Dr. Mumtaz Ali, a neurosurgeon who worked on Malala with three colleagues. Pakistan is a country numbed by the depressing regularity of extremist attacks. But the Tuesday morning attack stunned even the weariest. Taliban militants stopped a school van carrying Malala and two other girls on their way home from school in northwest Pakistan's Swat Valley. "Malala Yousufzai sok daa?"Who is Malala Yousufzai?, one of them asked in Pashtun. When the girls pointed Malala out, the men opened fire. The bullets struck all three girls. For two of them, the injuries were not life-threatening. For Malala, it was touch-and-go for a while. Read more: 14-year-old girl wins Pakistan's first peace prize Pakistan's Army Chief Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani paid a visit to her hospital bed. The chief minister of Punjab, the province where Swat is located, said he would bear the cost of Malala's treatment, calling her "the daughter of Pakistan."The head of PIA, the national airline, said he was putting a plane on standby to take Malala "anywhere in the world if needed" for treatment. And Pakistanis, hurt and angry, prayed. "Malala is what Taliban will never be," said Murtaza Haider, the associate dean of research and graduate programs at the Ted Rogers School of Management at Toronto's Ryerson University, in an opinion piece in the Dawn newspaper. "She is fearless, enlightened, articulate, and a young Muslim woman who is the face of Pakistan and the hope for a faltering nation that can no longer protect its daughters." A valley under siege Pakistan's picturesque Swat Valley was once one of Pakistan's biggest tourist destinations. The valley, near the Afghanistan border and about 186 miles (300 km) from the capital city of Islamabad, boasted the country's only ski resort. It was a draw for trout-fishing enthusiasts and visitors to the ancient Buddhist ruins in the area. But that was before, militants -- their faces covered with dark turbans -- unleashed a wave of violence.They demanded veils for women, beards for men and a ban on music and television. They allowed boys' schools to operate. But closed those for girls. It was in this climate that Malala reached out to the outside world through her online blog posts. She took a stand by writing about her daily battle with extremist militants who used fear and intimidation to force girls to stay at home. Malala's online writing led to her being awarded Pakistan's first National Peace Prize in November. Former Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gilani directed Pakistan's Cabinet to award the prize each year to a child under 18 who contributes to peace and education. The Taliban controlled Malala's valley for years until 2009, when the military cleared it in an operation that also evacuated thousands of families. But pockets remain, and violence is never far behind. The Taliban has already claimed responsibility for the attack on Malala's life. And on Wednesday, as police took the van driver and the school guard into custody for questioning, they issued another ominous threat. Responding to reports that Malala had survived the attack, a spokesman for the Pakistani Taliban said, ""if she survives this time, she won't next time. We will certainly kill her."