Malala: Latest UPDATE: 24 four hours vital

Mian Iftikhar slams hypocritical statements by some political, religious leaders. A military helicopter Thursday shifted Malala Yousafzai to Armed Forces Institute of Cardiology Rawalpindi. She is on ventilator in Children ITC. DG ISPR has said next 24 hours are important for the life of Malala. He said surgery has been done to lessen the swelling in her brain, adding best doctors of the world were treating Malala. Meanwhile, briefing the media at Peshawar Press Club Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain said that operation of Malala has been successful and she was being kept unconscious for early recovery. Doctors trying utmost to save life, blood clots, skull pieces in brain were major risk, Iftikhar said. He said clots of blood and pieces of skull have been removed from the brain. He requested the Punjab government to keep people updated about the health of Malala, adding if she had to be taken abroad Govt of Pakhtoonkhwa would bear all the expenses. Mian Iftikhar said Taliban have accepted the responsibility for heinous crime but some elements were still issuing hypocritical statements instead of openly condemning the Taliban.

Candlelit vigil held for Malala Yousufzai as schoolgirl shot by Taliban is airlifted to new hospital

http://www.telegraph.co.uk

Hours after Malala Yousufzai is transported to a safer hospital, demonstrators hold a candlelight vigil in Karachi to show support for the 14-year-old schoolgirl who is fighting for her life after being shot by Taliban gunmen.

KP govt to observe one-minute silence for Malala Yuosafzai

GEO TV

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Government has decided to observe one-minute silence at 1200 hours to condemn the brutal attack on 14 years old peace award winner Malala Yuosafzai, said provincial Minister for Information Mian Iftikhar Hussain here on Thursday. Addressing to an event on "child marriage" here at Peshawar Press club, he said that all the clerics of "Oqaf" mosques have been asked to offere special prayers for early recovery of Malala and also condemn the terrorists in Jumma sermons. Early, addressing the participants of the programme, he said the KP government has drafted a proposal to fix 18 years age for the male and 16 years for the female to get marry, adding that a notification in this regard would soon issued.

Malala ‘Crime’ Was Loving Schools

By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF

Twice the Taliban threw warning letters into the home of Malala Yousafzai, a 14-year-old Pakistani girl who is one of the world’s most persuasive advocates for girls’ education. They told her to stop her advocacy — or else. She refused to back down, stepped up her campaign and even started a fund to help impoverished Pakistani girls get an education. So, on Tuesday, masked gunmen approached her school bus and asked for her by name. Then they shot her in the head and neck. “Let this be a lesson,” a spokesman for the Pakistani Taliban, Ehsanullah Ehsan, said afterward. He added that if she survives, the Taliban would again try to kill her. Surgeons have removed a bullet from Malala, and she remains unconscious in critical condition in a hospital in Peshawar. A close family friend, Fazal Moula Zahid, told me that doctors are hopeful that there has been no brain damage and that she will ultimately return to school. “After recovery, she will continue to get an education,” Fazal said. “She will never, never drop out of school. She will go to the last.” “Please thank all your people who are supporting us and who stand with us in this war,” he added. “You energize us.” The day before Malala was shot, far away in Indonesia, another 14-year-old girl seeking an education suffered from a different kind of misogyny. Sex traffickers had reached out to this girl through Facebook, then detained her and raped her for a week. They released her after her disappearance made the local news. When her private junior high school got wind of what happened, it told her she had “tarnished the school’s image,” according to an account from Indonesia’s National Commission for Protection of Child Rights. The school publicly expelled her — in front of hundreds of classmates — for having been raped. These events coincide with the first international Day of the Girl on Thursday, and they remind us that the global struggle for gender equality is the paramount moral struggle of this century, equivalent to the campaigns against slavery in the 19th century and against totalitarianism in the 20th century. Here in the United States, it’s easy to dismiss such incidents as distant barbarities, but we have a blind spot for our own injustices — like sex trafficking. Across America, teenage girls are trafficked by pimps on Web sites like Backpage.com, and then far too often they are treated by police as criminals rather than victims. These girls aren’t just expelled from school; they’re arrested. Jerry Sandusky’s sex abuse of boys provoked outrage. But similar abuse is routine for trafficked girls across America, and local authorities often shrug with indifference in the same way some people at Penn State evidently did. We also don’t appreciate the way incidents like the attack on Tuesday in Pakistan represent a broad argument about whether girls deserve human rights and equality of education. Malala was a leader of the camp that said “yes.” After earlier aspiring to be a doctor, more recently she said she wanted to be a politician — modeled on President Obama, one of her heroes — to advance the cause of girls’ education. Pakistan is a country that has historically suffered from timid and ineffectual leadership, unwilling to stand up to militants. Instead, true leadership emerged from a courageous 14-year-old girl. On the other side are the Taliban, who understand the stakes perfectly. They shot Malala because girls’ education threatens everything that they stand for. The greatest risk for violent extremists in Pakistan isn’t American drones. It’s educated girls. “This is not just Malala’s war,” a 19-year-old female student in Peshawar told me. “It is a war between two ideologies, between the light of education and darkness.” She said she was happy to be quoted by name. But after what happened to Malala, I don’t dare put her at risk. For those wanting to honor Malala’s courage, there are excellent organizations building schools in Pakistan, such as Developments in Literacy (dil.org) and The Citizens Foundation (tcfusa.org). I’ve seen their schools and how they transform girls — and communities. One of my greatest frustrations when I travel to Pakistan is that I routinely spot extremist madrassas, or schools, financed by medieval misogynists from Saudi Arabia or elsewhere. They provide meals, free tuition and sometimes scholarships to lure boys — because their donors understand perfectly that education shapes countries. In contrast, American aid is mainly about supporting the Pakistani Army. We have tripled aid to Pakistani education to $170 million annually, and that’s terrific. But that’s less than one-tenth of our security aid to Pakistan. In Malala’s most recent e-mail to a Times colleague, Adam Ellick, she wrote: “I want an access to the world of knowledge.” The Taliban clearly understands the transformative power of girls’ education. Do we? • I invite you to visit my blog, On the Ground. Please also join me on Facebook and Google+, watch my YouTube videos and follow me on Twitter.

Madonna slams Taliban, dedicates song to Malala at concert

After the outpour of grief and anger over the attack on Malala Yousafzai from world leaders and officials, the teenage girl from Swat received support from an unexpected quarter when Madonna dedicated a song to Malala in a concert in Los Angeles. According to a report on The Hollywood Reporter, the music diva said she cried when she heard about the shooting of the girl in Swat valley. “This song is for you, Malala,” she said and then went on to sing “Human nature.” “The 14-year-old schoolgirl who wrote a blog about going to school. The Taliban stopped her bus and shot her. Do you realise how sick that is,” Madonna asked her fans in LA. The 54-year-old then shouted “Support education! Support women!” to loud cheers from the crowd. Madonna even went on to reveal Malala’s name, which was written on her name when she stripped during the concert.

Malala Has Won

By SYED FAZL-E-HAIDER

Malala Yousafzai, a 14-year-old campaigner for human rights, was shot in the head by Taliban militants on Tuesday while she was returning home from school in a van in the Swat area of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Province. Today, the entire nation is in shock. Everyone is condemning the Taliban and praying for Malala. She has become a role model for her country’s young generation. She has won. Malala is the victim of Talibanization, the radical mind-set spawned from a theocratic and obscurantist interpretation of Islam. Talibanization is about forcefully imposing a theocratic agenda on the people. It is about radicalizing them. It is about creating more and more suicide-bomb squads in the name of jihad against liberals and moderates, Muslims and non-Muslims. The attack on Malala liberated many shackled and Talibanized minds. She has won. Malala was advocating the ideology of love. She was a young ambassador of peace. By attacking her, the Taliban attempted to warn all the youngsters not to follow her ideology. But after the attack, Malala’s followers have multiplied across the country. She has won. The attack exposed the brutal face of the Taliban. It also raises questions about even holding talks with a group that plays with the lives of innocent citizens and does not spare anyone — it even targets kids. There is not just one Malala but thousands of Malalas who have fallen victim to this ideology of hate. The Taliban, projecting a campaign against polio as a cover for espionage, has put hundreds of thousands of children at risk by banning polio vaccinations in its strongholds in North and South Waziristan. In their former stronghold of Swat, the Taliban banned education for girls, condemned the state judicial system and ran a parallel justice system until 2009, when Islamabad launched a full-fledged military operation to quell a Taliban-led insurgency there. While the Taliban were attacking and destroying girls’ schools, Malala posted her diary on the BBC’s Web site, exposing the Taliban’s atrocities against women, its excesses, and its obscurantist approach to interpretation of Islamic laws. Last year, she was nominated for the International Children’s Peace Prize by the advocacy group Kids Rights Foundation. She has won. But the Pakistan Taliban’s version of Islam and the agenda they want to forcibly impose remains a threat. The group deems democratic elections part of the “secular” system and has announced that any political leader who plans to contest elections will be attacked if he visits the tribal areas. The Taliban’s declaration that the democratic system in Pakistan is un-Islamic and its criticism of Imran Khan, the former Pakistani cricketer-turned politician, as a liberal infidel exposes the peril of violent radicalism that surrounds Pakistan. Yet Khan, the leader of the Tehreek-e-Insaf, or the Movement for Justice, is widely criticized for being “too soft” on the Taliban. To protest drone strikes, he recently led a peace march to the border of South Waziristan, where it was halted by the Pakistan military for security reasons. Instead of appreciating his move, the Taliban condemned his “liberal” politics and threatened to kill him. The Pakistan Taliban recently distributed pamphlets in the markets in tribal areas threatening shopkeepers who sell mobile phones to give up that business or face dire consequences. Mobile-phone dealers were told to stop uploading songs, movies and pictures, which the Taliban says promote “un-Islamic acts.” The Pakistan Taliban’s plan to remake our nuclear-armed country according to its vision of an Islamic state raises international concerns about proliferating Islamist violence and its threat to regional and world stability. But the attack on Malala revived and resurrected the true Islamic ideology of peace across the country. She has won. Malala was fighting for the right to education — the highest long-term investment in containing Talibanization. Only education can bring about a change in the radical mind-set. Malala has become a beacon of light. She has won. Syed Fazl-e-Haider is a development analyst in Pakistan and a columnist for Pakistan’s Dawn newspaper.

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.

Pakistani schoolgirl shot by ‘barbaric and cowardly’ Taliban, Malala Yousufzai, moved to army hospital

http://news.nationalpost.com

A Pakistani schoolgirl fighting for her life after being shot by Taliban gunmen was transferred on Thursday from a hospital in a province that is a militant haven to a specialist hospital in the army garrison town of Rawalpindi.

Malala Yousufzai, 14, was unconscious in critical condition after being shot in the head and neck as she left school on Tuesday, but doctors said she had moved her arms and legs slightly the night before. Pakistani surgeons removed a bullet on Wednesday from Yousufzai who was shot by the Taliban for speaking out against the militants and promoting education for girls. Her courage made her a national hero. The shooting has drawn condemnation from world leaders and many Pakistanis.

ګل مکی تم زنده رهو ګیWe Are Praying For You!! Malala

Shooting of Pakistani schoolgirl activist triggers mass protests

http://rt.com/news/pakistan-shooting-protest-girl-154/

Protests swept Pakistan following the shooting of a 14-year-old schoolgirl by the Taliban. Schools closed their doors across the country in solidarity with the teenager, shot for advocating education for girls and criticizing the terrorist group.

Vigils and demonstrations were held across the nation amid strong condemnations of the attack by Pakistan’s leaders and the international community. Demonstrators marched in the streets of the capital of Islamabad holding banners reading, “Shame on you Taliban,” and decrying the attack as “inhuman” and “barbaric.”

Social media and Web forums were flooded with messages from Pakistanis voicing outrage at the Taliban’s actions and expressing their admiration for 14-year-old Malala Yousufzai.

"In attacking Malala, the terrorists have failed to grasp that she is not only an individual, but an icon of courage and hope who vindicates the great sacrifices that the people of Swat and the nation gave, for wresting the valley from the scourge of terrorism," General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, the country’s top military officer said in a statement.

Medical Update: Malala Yousafzai

Malala Yousufzai: Pakistani teen blogger in 'critical' condition

Concerns intensified Thursday over the condition of a Pakistani teen activist shot by the Taliban after a doctor said she was in "critical" condition and officials planned to move her to a different hospital. Authorities said they will transport Malala Yousufzai, 14, from the military hospital in Peshawar to one in Rawalpindi. The latter city houses the headquarters of the Pakistani military, three officials said. They did not want to be identified because they are not authorized to speak to the media about the matter. Malala is in "critical" condition, said Lt. Col. Junaid Khan, the head of neurosurgery at the Peshawar hospital. A day before, surgeons removed a bullet lodged in her neck. She is also suffering from severe edema, the doctor said. An edema is the abnormal accumulation of fluid in part of the body that results in swelling. Doctors had said late Wednesday that Malala's condition was "satisfactory." As she struggled to recover Thursday, the United Nations was marking International Day of the Girl, which is aimed at "highlighting, celebrating, discussing, and advancing girls lives and opportunities across the globe" -- goals that Malala risked her life to pursue. Malala's uncle, Faiz Muhammad, said his niece hadn't been conscious or responsive since the surgery to remove the bullet more than 24 hours ago. "Doctors say she needs 48-hours' rest," he said. Muhammad, who is in the hospital with Malala, said the family was "very worried" about her condition."We are counting on all the prayers of the nation," he said. "The prayers are with us, so, God willing, everything is going to be fine." An angry chorus of voices in social media, on the street, in newspapers and over the airwaves decried the attack against Malala as cowardly and an example of a government unable to cope with militants.On Tuesday, Taliban militants stopped a van carrying three girls, including Malala, on their way home from school in northwestern Pakistan's conservative Swat Valley. One of the gunmen asked which one was Malala Yousufzai. When the girls pointed her out, the men opened fire. The bullets struck all three girls. The injuries from the shooting were not life-threatening for the two other girls. But the attack put Malala in intensive care. On Wednesday, police took the van driver and the school guard into custody for questioning. They also said they'd identified the culprits. Meanwhile, the Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack and issued an ominous threat. "If she survives this time, she won't next time," a spokesman for the Pakistani Taliban said. "We will certainly kill her." Pakistan's picturesque Swat Valley was once one of the nation's biggest tourist destinations. The valley, near the Afghanistan border and 186 miles (300 kilometers) 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 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. 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. "I have the right of education," Malala said in a CNN interview last year. "I have the right to play. I have the right to sing. I have the right to talk. I have the right to go to market. I have the right to speak up." Malala also encouraged other young people to take a stand against the Taliban -- and to not hide in their bedrooms. "God will ask you on the day of judgment where were you when your people were asking you, when your school fellows were asking you, and when your school was asking you that I am being blown up?" Read more: 14-year-old girl wins Pakistan's first peace prize Mian Iftikhar Hussein, the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa information minister, said he was declaring a bounty of $100,000 for the capture of the culprits in the attempt on Malala's life. The attack was criticized by governments around the globe. "Directing violence at children is barbaric, it's cowardly and our hearts go out to her and the others who were wounded as well as their families," Jay Carney, the White House spokesman, said Wednesday. The U.S. government has offered to "provide air ambulance and medical treatment at a facility suitable for her condition if it becomes necessary," he said. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon called the act "heinous and cowardly" on Wednesday and said the attackers must be brought to justice. "The secretary-general, like many around the world, has been deeply moved by Malala Yousufzai's courageous efforts to promote the fundamental right to education -- enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights," a representative for Ban said.

Daily Jang update: Malala Yousafzai was still not out of danger.

Malala still critical, says KPK governor

Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Governor has revealed that Malala Yousafzai was still not out of danger. Malala Yousafzai was being sent to the top military hospital in Rawalpindi, a government official confirmed on Thursday. "Her condition is not yet out of danger despite improvement. She is being shifted to Rawalpindi," Masood Kausar, the governor of the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, told reporters. Malala has improved but remains in intensive care with a 70 percent chance of survival, doctors said as they canvas expert advice abroad. The shooting of 14-year-old Malala Yousafzai on a school bus in the Swat valley has been denounced worldwide and by the Pakistani authorities, who have offered a reward of more than $100,000 for the capture of her attackers. Two of her school friends were also injured in the attack which was carried out as retribution for Malala s campaign for the right to an education during a two-year Taliban insurgency in the region. There are mounting questions about how the attack could have happened and how the perpetrators simply walked away in an area with a visible police and army presence. One of her doctors, Mumtaz Khan, told AFP that Malala had improved since the bullet was removed in an operation on Wednesday, but said she was still seriously ill at a military hospital in the northwestern city of Peshawar. "At the moment her condition is better," he said. "She has been put on a ventilator for two days. The bullet has affected some part of the brain, but there is a 70 percent chance that she will survive." Mehmoodul Hasan, one of Malala s relatives, said the family had been told her condition had improved but that doctors were sending her medical reports abroad. "They are checking if better facilities are available in the UK or Dubai or any other country, then they will decide about sending her abroad, otherwise they will treat her here," said Hasan. US President Barack Obama, UN chief Ban Ki-moon and Pakistani leaders have expressed horror at the attack on a girl who won admiration for daring to speak out during the Taliban insurgency which the army said it had crushed in 2009. Obama believed the shooting was "reprehensible and disgusting and tragic", said White House spokesman Jay Carney. "Directing violence at children is barbaric, it s cowardly, and our hearts go out to her and the others who were wounded as well as their families," he said. Malala won international prominence after highlighting Taliban atrocities in Swat with a blog for the BBC three years ago, when the militants burned girls schools and terrorised the valley before the army intervened. She was just 11 then, and her struggle resonated with tens of thousands of girls denied an education by militants across northwest Pakistan, where the government has been fighting local Taliban since 2007. Preparations had been made to fly her abroad, but a military source told AFP she was too ill to travel. Carney said US forces were ready to offer transport and treatment to the teenager if needed. The Pakistani provincial government announced a 10 million rupee ($104,000) reward for information leading to the arrest of Malala s attackers and Interior Minister Rehman Malik has promised to catch the gunmen. Officers in Swat say dozens of people were rounded up after the attack but no one has been charged. Mingora police station chief Ahmad Shah told AFP that nearly 200 people had been detained over Malala s shooting, including the bus driver and a school watchman, but that most had been released. "Police were on alert already, but after this latest incident we are now carrying out nightly search operations on a daily basis to prevent such incidents," Shah said.

Malala Yousufzai being moved to Rawalpindi in critical condition

http://www.thenewstribe.com/

Malala Yousufzai is being shifted to Rawalpindi’s FIAC Hospital on doctors advice, said a statement issued by the Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR, media wing of the Pakistan Army on Thursday. The statement noted that two doctors from Birmingham hospital would also fly to Rawalpindi with Malala Yousufzai. AFP adds; A Pakistani child activist shot in the head by the Taliban is not out of danger and is being moved to the city of Rawalpindi, officials said Thursday.

Asked whether 14-year-old Malala Yousafzai was being sent to the top military hospital in Rawalpindi, a military official confirmed to AFP only that she was being moved and that a further announcement would be made shortly. “Her condition is not yet out of danger despite improvement. She is being shifted to Rawalpindi,” Masood Kausar, the governor of the northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, told reporters. One of her doctors, Mumtaz Khan, told AFP earlier that Malala was still seriously ill at a military hospital in the northwestern city of Peshawar, two days after the shooting in the Swat valley. Mehmoodul Hasan, one of Malala’s relatives, said the family had been told her condition had improved but that doctors were sending her medical reports abroad. Preparations had been made Wednesday to fly her abroad, but a military source told AFP she was too ill to travel. The White House has said US forces are ready to offer transport and treatment to the teenager if needed.

Courage, thy name is Malala

Gunmen left Malala Yousufzai fighting for her life on Tuesday, when they fired on the children’s rights activist and her schoolmates in a van in Mingora’s Sharifabad area, as they were headed home from school. Following a pre-meditated plan, the gunmen stopped the school van, asked which one of the children Malala was, and then opened fire, hitting her in the head and another student, Shazia, in the arm. Ms Yousufzai courageously spoke out against the closure of schools and efforts by the Taliban to deny women an education. The shocking incident is a symbol of the kind of values the Taliban represent, the kind of values that no Pakistani can empathise with, that will find no market here and that every citizen of this country will stand up to take a bullet for if need be. After initially coming to attention because of the poignant diary she wrote for the BBC Urdu service website, Malala was nominated for the 2011 Children’s Peace Prize and was conferred the first National Peace Prize the same year. The Taliban not only claimed responsibility for the shooting, but issued a chilling warning that attempts on her life would continue if she survived this attack.

Let it be clear: the Taliban will find no friends among Pakistanis. For the last few months, they have repeatedly made clear their agenda to challenge the writ of the Pakistani state and target those very assets which are the pride of the Pakistani nation. This is as great a warning as we can receive. The Pakistani government and military, which has absolutely failed to protect its citizens in especially the northern border areas, must now do what taxpayers employ them to do: govern and protect, respectively. How is it possible that a few score can hold a country of 180 million hostage? How is it possible that our children are not safe from such barbarous violence? When will it end and when will Malala be able to go to school without looking over her shoulder, fearing for her life? These questions must be answered and now – lest in a few weeks we forget the price Malala had to pay for voicing her innocent and just claim to an education and a bright future in the world. Her family have vowed to remain in Swat and continue their struggle. Malala has not yet regained consciousness and well-wishers across the country continue to pray for her health. The least the government can now do is protect her against the future threats which have been so boldly delivered already, even before she was out of the operation theatre after one attack.

The Punjab Chief Minister must be held to his promise of treatment abroad, while the President should be made to make good on the air ambulance he spoke of, as and when it is required. Since Ms Yousufzai has suffered a brain injury, she will require specialized and sensitive treatment for a full recovery, which must be provided by the state which failed to protect her in the first place.

SYMBOL OF GIRL EDUCATION& PEACE SHOT AT BY TALIBAN

It is probably the most barbaric and inhuman act on the part of Taliban to target Malala Yusufzai, the symbol of girl education, in an ambush in Saidu Sharif on Tuesday. She was returning home from school along with her friend when Taliban gunmen intercepted their school van, asked a pointed question who is Malala Yusufzai and later shot at and injured her critically. A spokesman of the Taliban has justified the murderous attack on Malala Yusufzai claiming that she opposed Taliban and justifiably an opponent was shot. This barbaric act of Taliban against a teen age girl student had drawn widespread condemnation from all corners, including Jamaat-i-Islam, the only religious party who joined the democratic forces in condemning the attack. They are the same Taliban whom Imran Khan wanted to rescue, appease and took a peace march to Waziristan in order to give a moral boost to Taliban for fighting the people and security forces of Pakistan. He put all the blame on the Government and spared the Taliban for their terrorist activities. Similarly, the JUI and Maulana Fazlur Rehman had also failed to condemn the inhuman act of Taliban against a teen age girl student who brought name and fame for Pakistani people in resisting the terror tactics of Taliban and opposed burning and bombing the schools. JUI dominated Government had provided sanctuaries to Taliban terrorist in early 2000 from where they operated against the people and security forces. The whole nation is condemning the terrorist act of Taliban against the teen age girl student. According to latest report, she was operated upon and the bullet had been taken out from her skull and she was stated to be in a stable condition ready to be taken to UAE for treatment at a trauma centre. Both the President and the Prime Minister had strongly condemned the murderous attack on Malala by the Taliban terrorists in order to subdue opponents. The terror tactics of Taliban had back lashed and they stood completely isolated giving a chance to the security forces to destroy their hide outs, training camps from all sanctuaries in FATA and its adjoining human settlements. Taliban lost the support of the people. The security forces should not miss the golden chance when the Taliban stood completely isolated and thus the terror and fanatic mindset be defeated once for all.

MEDICAL UPDATE: Malala Yusufzai

We Are All Malala: World Rallies in Support of Courageous Wounded Pakistani Schoolgirl

Malala Yousafza,

the 14-year-old girl shot in the head yesterday by cowardly Taliban gunmen who attacked a bus filled with school girls in Peshawar, has become an international symbol of freedom for women and girls and the struggle against brutality and repression. Already a well-known activist in development and civil rights circles because of her bravery in opposing the Taliban in her native Pakistan as young but powerful voice for liberalism and the education of girls, Yousafzai was targeted for her leadership. The Taliban openly celebrated the nearly fatal attack on Malala, who remains in critical condition after surgery. Taliban spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan “confirmed by phone Tuesday that Ms. Yousafzai had been the target, calling her crusade for education rights an ‘obscenity,’” according to The New York Times. “She has become a symbol of Western culture in the area; she was openly propagating it,” Mr. Ehsan said, telling The Times that if she survived, militants would certainly try to kill her again. “Let this be a lesson.” It’s a lesson alright – a lesson in courage and moral bravery, and a lesson in how an act of brutality can mobilize people tired of repression and brutality cloaked in religion and culture. Malala stood for education. She stood for progress and the advancement of her people. She stood for an ideal that values women and girls, and their equal place in human society. And though gravely wounded, she stands for those ideals today. Some days, Twitter can seem insubstantial and a simple waste of time. But in the reaction to the violence of men who would shoot a schoolgirl to ensure their own miserly and backward societal power, Twitter leaves a real document today. Here then, a piece of that document, proof that though she lies unconscious in a Peshawar hospital, Malali – named for a mythic Pashtun girl – is far more powerful than the thuggish man who shot her in a school bus.

Hoti visits CMH to enquire health of Malala

The Chief Minister was informed about Malala's operation conducted under supervision of renown neurosurgeon‚ Dr Mumtaz Ali on Wednesday morning. Khyber Pakthunkhwa Chief Minister‚ Ameer Haider Khan Hoti on Wednesday visited Combined Military Hospital and enquired about the health of injured national peace award winner‚ Malala Yusafzai. The Chief Minister was informed about Malala's operation conducted under supervision of renown neurosurgeon‚ Dr Mumtaz Ali on Wednesday morning.

The attack on Malala Yousufzai

EDITORIAL : Vengeance coming full circle

The gruesome killing of innocent people in the name of religion is the worst thing to imagine and absorb. The attack on Malala Yousufzai, the fourteen year old prodigy who voiced her concerns regarding girls’ education in the terror-hit areas of Pakistan has exposed the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan’s (TTP’s) visage of being fundamentally opposed to progress, development and modernisation, only to perpetuate their self-styled religious agenda far removed from Islam and its teachings. Malala was identified and then attacked when the assailant mounted the vehicle in which she was travelling home from school. They chose to shoot her in the head to minimise the chances of her survival. She however, survived; the bullet penetrated through her brain and settled in the shoulder. The bullet has been removed in a five hour-long operation. The government has decided, on the advice of the medical board dealing with her case, not to risk sending her abroad in her present condition, and instead get foreign doctors to visit Pakistan if needed. The TTP, while claiming responsibility for the attack, has condemned Malala for her open, secular and modern views on education and women’s participation in the social and political arenas. Her stance against the Taliban and more so on their irrational and ill-conceived notion of keeping children away from education by demolishing schools was the biggest irritant for the TTP. They had been issuing threats to her family, had asked her to remain silent, and even now when they have injured her grievously, their desire to eliminate her has not disappeared: “We will kill her even if she survives now,” they say. Malala began her journey to communicate with the world by writing blogs under a pen name Gul Makai in 2008. She would publish pages from her diaries on the web. Each one of her writings was soaked in the blood, terror and agony suffered by the people of Swat. However, there would always be hope wrapped in her thoughts that looked forward to an end of the TTP and the coming of democracy in her region eventually. To be a part of this long and tiring journey, she had desired to become a politician and launch her own political party. Malala has been awarded the First National Peace Award of Pakistan. She was nominated for an International Children’s Peace Prize by Kids Rights Foundation, an international children’s advocacy group. And finally the gallantry award from the President of Pakistan consummated this little girl’s heroic profile at the tender age of fourteen. The attack on Malala is an attack on all those people who dare to think along secular and modern lines in Pakistan today. It is an attack on the very ideology of this country that never wanted theology to ruin its very essence. When Maulana Sufi along with his group of jihadists in 1990 began establishing a state-within-the-state in the name of Shariah, the threat this posed did not dawn on the authorities responsible for the territorial and constitutional defence of the state. Eventually when the military operation in 2009 was launched, it displaced 2.5 million people, one of the largest internal displacements in recent history. But the offensive did not eliminate the militants; it only forced them to retreat from Swat temporarily. For the last one year, not only has militancy returned to the area, Maulana Fazlullah, who had been considered dead, is found holed up in Afghanistan. Lately we have had a number of attacks in lower and upper Dir on the security forces of Pakistan by the TTP. The government has been unable to fill the political and administrative vacuum and thereby root out the curse of militancy. Now with the attack on Malala, the vengeance of these enemies of Pakistan has come full circle. While we pray for Malala’s full and quick recovery, the government must tighten the noose around the necks of those who have so far been released from the courts because of legal loopholes or intimidation of judges and witnesses, and spared punishment. Also, all those still running around loose and sowing mayhem and chaos through their terrorism must be brought to book in a concerted manner if more Malalas are not to fall victim to their fanaticism.

Malala Yousafzai: Nation’s brave daughter

So cowardly was this murderous attack on Malala Yousafzai

the illustrious daughter of the nation who has done it tremendously proud with her bravery. Despite grave risks, she has stood by her beliefs unflinchingly. And in spite of her young age, budged has she not even an inch from her noble stance in the face of dire threats of the thugs who have been after her so murderously. An epitome of exceptionally enviable courage and boldness she undoubtedly is. And the shocking assault on her has left the entire nation with a heart-rending grief to nurse along with her loved ones. The accursed thugs have not just attacked her. They have pierced into the heart of this nation. But with this dastardly attack they have demonstrated yet again how bestial are they innately. Attacking a child, as she is, could be no bravery but an outright cowardice unquestionably. Yet they went to town bragging of it as if they had done some heroic deed, demonstrating thereby palpably that they are not what they feign to be but just vile plain murderers who slaughter even children just for the pleasure of it. At least this savage attack must pull our holy clan of clerical orders out of its own conceit. So loath it is of speaking up against the intrinsic vileness of these terrorists who wear the mask of a deceptive religiosity to perpetrate a thuggery that has no place at all in humanity, and not at all in our noble religion of Islam which abhors the killing of the innocent and the child in any circumstances. What nonetheless has left the distraught nation completely astounded as to why had Malala been left so uncovered of a security shield that the wicked murderers could so easily access her and fire at her from such a close range. She had been receiving life threats from the thugs. And hence she was their potential target. Giving her a security umbrella was hence of utmost essential. Yet she was evidently left unprotected to fend for herself. Loathsomely, the administrations all over the land go the whole hog to protect the official eminences who despite their ages are so small compared with her. And even as in spite her small age, she is comparatively so tall; yet she was neglected and ignored and obviously did not get the security cover she should have received necessarily. But why to bemoan this when that is the way the inept and out-of-their-depth administrations foisted on us by the conspiracy of circumstances behave and function? We are visibly in the lap of a multifaceted terrorism, much of it foreign-fuelled and foreign-funded, its main wellsprings located in neigbouring Afghanistan. Yet no coherent comprehensive, orchestrated and coordinated national strategy to counter this terrorism is in evidence. The entire burden of fighting this monstrosity has evidently been put on the shoulders of the military, while the civil security apparatus whose job it is essentially to fight out urban terrorism seems to have taken to swooning. More contemptibly, while the army and paramilitaries are rendering tremendous sacrifices in fighting this national war, instead of gratitude they are picking only flak from all around. In the given conditions, it could be sheer wishful thinking if a child like Malala Yousafzai, even though a national asset, would receive all the state attention to secure her life. But we humbly pray to Allah Almighty for Malala Yousafzai’s speediest recovery from the critical injury the wicked thugs have inflicted on her person. And we urge the authorities to leave no stone unturned in her treatment for her to return to normal, happy and promising life. She is the priceless prized daughter of the nation who at her such a young age has earned it so much of name and fame worldwide.

Obama disgusted by shooting of Malala

US President Barack Obama has termed shooting of Malala Yousafzai as tragic and barbaric. US President Barack Obama sees the shooting of a 14-year-old Pakistani girl who protested against the Taliban as tragic and barbaric and has offered air ambulance services, his spokesman said Wednesday. "I know that the president found the news reprehensible and disgusting and tragic," White House spokesman Jay Carney said, adding that US forces were ready to offer transport and treatment to Malala Yousafzai. "Directing violence at children is barbaric, it s cowardly and our hearts go out to her and the others who were wounded as well as their families." Pakistani doctors earlier removed a bullet from Malala, who was shot in the head by the Taliban on a school bus in a horrific attack, but she was still unconscious and too ill to travel. Carney said that the US military had already agreed to provide air ambulance services and medical treatment to Malala if it became necessary. There was shock and revulsion in Pakistan, where schoolchildren across the country on Wednesday offered prayers for the recovery of Malala, an outspoken child campaigner for the right to have an education.

Bilawal Bhutto: Malala voice for girls’ rights

Condemning the attack on the life of Malala Yousafzai he said she raised her voice for the girls' right to education and faced the threats from extremists bravely In an interview with the Council of Europe website‚ he paid rich tributes to Benazir Bhutto Shaheed who left an everlasting impression laying down her life following a long and hard struggle for democracy. Chairman Pakistan Peoples Party Bilawal Bhutto Zardari has said the PPP has a long history of struggle for achieving the universal values of democracy in the country. He said that though democracy is nascent in the country‚ yet it shared democratic values with the world. To a question‚ Bilawal Bhutto Zardari said the government has worked on several important legislation‚ like protect women rights‚ legislation against domestic violence and harassment. Condemning the attack on the life of Malala Yousafzai he said she raised her voice for the girls' right to education and faced the threats from extremists bravely.

Malala’s health improving gradually

Radio Pakistan

The hospital sources in Peshawar say Malala Yousufzai's health is improving and now she can move her body parts They said she is improving gradually. Meanwhile‚ a panel of senior doctors has examined Malala Yousufzai‚ who has been kept under strict observation at CMH. Her health is improving and she can move her body parts. The medical board will conduct another medical checkup of her on Friday and after that it will be decided whether to take her abroad or not for treatment.