Karachi says yes to Malala, no to Taliban

Tens of thousands of Pakistanis held a demonstration in Karachi on Sunday in support of a 14-year-old human rights campaigner and peace activist shot and critically wounded by the Taliban for promoting girls' education and criticizing the extremist group. The demonstration was the largest by far since Malala Yousufzai and two classmates were shot on October 9 while returning home from school, The Associated Press reported. The demonstration was organized by the most powerful political party in Karachi, the Muttahida Quami Movement (MQM). The party's chief, Altaf Hussain, addressed the audience by telephone from London, where is he in self-imposed exile. Hussain called the Taliban gunmen who attacked Yousufzai "beasts" and said the shooting was an attack on "the ideology of Pakistan." Hussain addressed the audience by telephone from London, where is he in self-imposed exile. “Malala Yousufzai is a beacon of knowledge. She is the daughter of the nation,” he added. The demonstrators carried the young girl's picture and banners praising her bravery. Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan (TTP) spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan said that the militants attacked Malala because she was anti-Taliban, adding that she would not be spared. "She was pro-West, she was speaking against Taliban," Ehsan said by telephone from a secret location. "She was young but she was promoting Western culture in Pashtun areas," he said, referring to the main ethnic group in northwest Pakistan and southern and eastern Afghanistan. Most members of the Afghan Taliban and the TTP come from the Pashtun community. It is a society where there is great opposition to education for females and a very low level of literacy. On Saturday, a Pakistani military spokesman said the 14-year-old had shown signs of improvement by moving her limbs. "The sedation given to Malala was reduced today so that neurosurgeons could do their clinical assessment and as a result of it Malala responded and moved her hands and feet," Major General Asim Saleem Bajwa told reporters in Rawalpindi, where Malala is being treated in a military hospital. "It is a positive development," Bajwa added. "As per doctors, (the) condition of Malala is stable." Two other young girls, who were also injured when the militants attacked Malala’s school bus, were "also being taken care of at places where they can get best treatment,” he stated. Earlier on Saturday, doctors treating Malala said they were hopeful because the 14-year-old felt pain, a sign of recovery for someone who is on a ventilator. The United Arab Emirates plans to send a specialized aircraft to serve as an ambulance for the 14-year-old in case doctors decide to send her abroad for treatment, a Pakistani official said Sunday. The UAE Embassy in Islamabad could not immediately be reached for comment. On Friday, at mosques, churches, and schools across the country, Pakistanis observed a day of prayers for the speedy recovery of the young activist. In 2008 and 2009, the TTP banned female education in the Swat Valley, depriving more than 40,000 girls of education. TTP militants destroyed hundreds of schools in the valley during a campaign of violence over the course of the two years, which led to a dramatic decline in the number of girls enrolled in schools in the region. In 2009, Malala Yousufzai rose to fame for writing about life in the Swat Valley under the TTP. She later received Pakistan’s National Peace Award for bravery and was also nominated for an international children's peace award.

Altaf Hussain: Taliban are inhumane, illiterate, stone-age people

Taliban are inhumane, illiterate and people from the stone-age, said Muttahida Qaumi Movement chief Altaf Hussain on Sunday in Karachi. Hussain was addressing the participants of a conference held in honour of Malala Yousafzai. The 14-year-old child rights activists was attacked by Taliban gunmen on October 9 when she was on her way home from school. Hussain said that if the armed forces fail to apprehend these culprits, then the nation will be left with no other option but to look towards the international community for the safety of their children. “May I ask where are Pakistan’s armed forces, and its high-ranking personnel who utilise up to 80% of the country’s resources?” the MQM chief questioned. He further questioned the role of the political and religious parties. “Why are they quiet, why don’t they fight against the Taliban?” he stressed. “See their wealth, their property; see how much they have gained through politics. Unfortunately, they are not fulfilling their national obligations and responsibilities,” he said. Female education and Islam Calling Malala a beacon of hope for millions of girls in Pakistan, Hussain asked if acquiring education was a crime. He further said that the Taliban’s stance on female education was against the teachings of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). Hussain added that there are very few religious scholars who preach the correct version of the religion, while the rest are all “religious thugs” whose agenda is to “sell Islam”. “I am humbly requesting all the genuine religious leaders and scholars to speak up now. It is your duty. If you remain silent then you are similar to the terrorists,” he said. Speaking about the injustices taking place in the country, the MQM chief said that his party has always condemned oppression regardless of the consequences – be it the attack on Malala, the blasphemy case against Rimsha Masih or attacks on churches and temples. “MQM was, is and will always remain against drone attacks,” he added. Suo motu The MQM chief called on Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry to take suo motu notice of the brazen attack on Malala. “We don’t want a favour, we want justice,” he said. Movement to mobilise people While speaking to the gathering, MQM Deputy Convener Dr Farooq Sattar said the event is the first step in a movement to mobilise people against extremism and militancy. He stated that Quaid-e-Azam’s Pakistan is engulfing into the darkness and everyone needs to unite in order to save it. Commenting on the attack on Malala, Sattar said that it was an attack on Jinnah’s Pakistan, Allama Iqbal’s vision and the ideology of the country. “The attack on Malala was an attack on Pakistan’s conscience,” he stressed. He further said that a handful of militants wanted to enforce their way of life on the people of Pakistan.

LATEST: Malala taken off, put back on ventilator:

We WILL defy the Taliban and go back to school, says friend shot with brave Malala

The best friend of the 14-year-old Pakistani girl shot in the head by the Taliban yesterday vowed to defy the extremists again and return to school with her. Shazia Ramzan

watched in horror as classmate Malala Yousafzai was shot beside her on their school bus, before the gunman turned and shot her too. Speaking exclusively to The Mail on Sunday, brave Shazia, also 14, who was hit in the shoulder and hand, said: ‘She will recover and we will go back to school and study together again.’

As Shazia sat up in her hospital bed, Malala was yesterday still critically ill in a hospital in Rawalpindi, Pakistan, after being shot by the Taliban gunman as she travelled home on a school bus in Mingora in the strife-torn Swat Valley on Tuesday. Malala, who from the age of 11 defied the Taliban to write a blog for the BBC championing education for girls, was targeted by the extremists, who believe girls should be kept at home and barred from school.In hospital in Peshawar, Shazia said Malala had told classmates she might be a target but refused to hide from the Taliban.

She also described the callous way the gunman shot Malala in the head and then turned his gun on her and another of Malala’s classmates before fleeing. ‘Malala told us she had been threatened by the extremists,’ she said. ‘She said she had been speaking too much against mujahideen [Taliban] and they might do something to her.’ Describing Tuesday’s attack, she said: ‘It was just a normal school day. We were coming home after our second-term exams. The bus was taking the usual route. ‘Then it suddenly stopped and two men confronted us. They asked, “Which one of you is Malala?” Some of the girls started to talk and then one of the men opened fire. All the girls started crying and shouting. Malala was hit in the head and fell to the floor unconscious. There was blood everywhere. I was in total shock. ‘Then the man with the gun fired at me and another girl and ran away. We were all just so traumatised and shocked. Everything happened so quickly.‘The bus driver raced us to hospital. It was chaotic because everyone was screaming and crying and Malala was lying on the floor in front of me.’

Shazia had been hit by two bullets. By yesterday, however, she was well enough to walk around her bed in the Combined Military Hospital. The third girl had comparatively minor injuries.Explaining the build-up to the attack, Shazia said: ‘Malala would talk to us about the dangers she was facing but refused to change the way she lived. She just said the extremists might do something to her because she had spoken out against them so much and they might want to harm her. ‘She knew something might happen but she never let it affect her. She refused to be anything other than a normal schoolgirl.’ Shazia said she was disgusted with the men who carried out the attack. ‘We don’t know who they were but I am sure they were the people Malala had been warned about,’ she said. As she prepared to go home to her family, Shazia said her greatest wish was to return to school with Malala – even though the Taliban has threatened to return and kill Malala. ‘With the grace of God, I am completely all right now. Malala will recover soon too, I hope. We will go back to school and study together again. ‘I am praying for Malala and praying she can join her school friends again as soon as possible. The whole nation is praying for her and I am sure she will make a full recovery.’ Shazia’s father Muhammad Ramzan, 50, who runs a bakery in Mingora, said he was horrified by the attack. ‘We have never been enemies with anyone,’ he said. ‘I don’t know who did this. Malala was outspoken and she had told her classmates something like this could happen but we never imagined it would happen in this way.’Malala’s uncle Mehmood-ul-Hassan Yousafzai said her condition was improving. Doctors said the next 48 hours would be critical to her recovery.

Imran Talib Khan comments outrage Afghanistan's government

Imran Khan says Taliban's 'holy war' in Afghanistan is justified by Islamic law Pakistani politician's comments at hospital that treated shooting victim Malala Yousafzai outrage Afghanistan's government

Hamid Karzai's government has lashed out at Imran Khan after the former Pakistani cricket star, now a politician, said the Taliban were fighting a "holy war" in Afghanistan, that was justified by Islamic law. Speaking after visiting a hospital in Peshawar where Malala Yousafzai – the 14-year-old activist shot in the head by the Taliban for supporting girls' education – was treated last week, Khan told reporters insurgents in Afghanistan were fighting a "jihad". Citing a verse from the Qur'an he said: "It is very clear that whoever is fighting for their freedom is fighting a jihad … The people who are fighting in Afghanistan against the foreign occupation are fighting a jihad," he said, according to a video of remarks to journalists. Politicians in Afghanistan have reacted with disbelief, with one parliamentarian even suggesting Khan should be arrested. The Ulema Council, a grouping of senior clerics, declared Khan's comments "unIslamic". A Kabul foreign ministry spokesman said Khan was "either profoundly and dangerously ignorant about the reality in Afghanistan or he has ill will against the Afghan people". "Our children are killed on daily basis, civilians killed and our schools hospitals and infrastructure attacked on a daily basis," he said. "To call any of that jihad is profoundly wrong and misguided." Karzai has written to all of Pakistan's political leaders, including Khan, saying "we must ask why we have been unable to counter the terrorism that is attacking our religious, our people, and the promise of a better future for our children". Khan has also courted criticism by saying he will not publicly name the Taliban while criticising the men who attempted to kill Yousafzai because he feared it would put his party supporters at risk. The row with Kabul highlights the awkward political situation Khan has found himself in recent days. He has long blamed the rise of the Taliban in the country on the US, saying their military operations in Afghanistan and the CIA drone strikes in Pakistan's tribal belt is responsible for the upsurge in militancy. But his populist position has been challenged by the almost unprecedented public anger against the Pakistani Taliban triggered by the attempt to kill Yousafzai as she sat in a van with her classmates in Swat, last Tuesday. While many observers fear the mood of national outrage will ultimately change little, the country's media continues to cover the saga intensively while the country's powerful military chief called on the nation to unite and stand up to fight against extremism. The foreign minister has even suggested the attack might be a turning point for a country that has long struggled to muster support for a decisive push against militants. On Sunday, thousands of people attended a rally in Karachi organised by the Muttahida Qaumi movement, the dominant political party in the southern city. Yousafzai is unconscious and in intensive care in a military hospital in the garrison city of Rawalpindi. A military spokesman said her condition was improving and that no decision had been made as to whether she should be sent overseas, despite an offer from the United Arab Emirates to supply an air ambulance. The local media continued to focus on her condition despite government warnings that the Pakistani Taliban, apparently angered by criticism of the attack on Yousafzai, has ordered attacks on journalists.

Malala's Fight Is the World's Fight

BY: Gordon BrownFormer Prime Minister of the United Kingdom; UN Special Envoy for Global Education

Famous world sites from the Niagara falls to the London Eye have turned to pink today to mark the world's first International Day of Girl Child, but there is an extra reason why the world should wear pink -- to signal support for Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani girl shot by the Taliban for demanding that she and other girls go to school. As she fights for her life in a hospital, Malala, who wore a pink dress to school to defy the Taliban and has written a BBC Urdu blog describing how she was banned from school for being a girl, is rightly becoming the icon for 32 million girls worldwide who are out of primary school -- and for the global fight to ensure by 2015 the right of every girl to an education. Today, the girl from the Swat valley of Pakistan, who was forced to flee her village when the Taliban closed her school, should be adopted by the world. As she fights the Taliban -- who labelled her campaign for girls' education an 'obscenity' -- her courage should be celebrated and we should think of her as everyone's daughter. Giving messages of support for Malala from all over the world, I have asked Pakistan's President Zardari to pledge that Malala's suffering will not be in vain. A few days ago I received a promise from him that his government will now do everything -- providing teachers, resources and financial help for families -- to get girls to school. We agreed that the office of the United Nations Special Envoy for Global Education would send a delegation to Pakistan to agree practical proposals to turn the promise of education for every girl into a reality by the end of 2015, the deadline for achieving the Millennium Development Goal of education for every child. Three years ago, aged 11, Malala told us in a blog, "I was afraid of going to school because the Taliban had issued an edict banning all girls from attending schools." She described how, "On my way from school to home I heard a man saying, 'I will kill you.'" Banned from school, she told the world that "my real name means 'grief stricken.'" Now as her name is broadcast across the world as an icon for courage and hope, I am determined that her shooting produces much more than just the talk of change. When I met President Zardari we agreed to draw up a plan to put Pakistan's five million out-of-school girls and boys into the classroom. A week before, I also met the new Pakistani foreign minister and finance minister and pledged global support if they would move further and faster to achieve education for all. I have talked to the President about expanding the cash support scheme organized by the Benazir Income Support Program that incentivizes families to get their children, especially their daughters, to school. At the same time we talked of expanding the UK-supported project in the Punjab that has already sent an additional one million children to school by insisting on attendance, teacher quality and proper administration. But Pakistan needs a step-change in delivery of education by each of its provinces, who are responsible for schools, if we are to have a chance of meeting the Millennium Development Goal that every child is enrolled in school by 2015. Round the world the campaign for girls' education -- a campaign that Malala now symbolizes -- is fighting evils which prevent us realizing our goal. Child marriage takes 10 million girls a year out of school and into marriages they did not choose; child labor prevents 15 million girls and boys under 14 going to school; the conscription of child soldiers takes thousands upon thousands more girls out of the classroom and onto the battlefield. Yet it can cost just two dollars a week year to educate a child in the poorest parts of Africa and Asia -- and so we have to fight the prejudice that downgrades girls to second-class citizens who are not to be heard and rarely seen either. Pakistan needs to be shocked into action, with the Taliban shamed and forced into accepting the basic freedoms of every girl. From this International Day of the Girl Child forward, Malala's fight for life should become the whole world's fight for not only establishing every girl's right to education but also achieving within three years a school place for the neglected 32 million.

Breaking News: Malala's medical reports satisfactory

Doctors have termed the CT scan and other medical reports of Malala Yousafzai as satisfactory. On Sunday in an statement, the ISPR said doctors were still undecided whether Malala Yousafzai would be taken abroad for further treatment. Earlier on Saturday, Director General ISPR Maj Gen Asim Bajwa said that Malala Yousafzai's condition was steadily improving and as a result the critically injured 14-year old was now being administered a lower dose of sedatives. "Movement has been witnessed in Malala's hands and legs which is a positive development," Maj Gen Bajwa said. He said the doctors have cut down the amount of sedatives being administered to Malala Yousafzai in view of the steady improvement in her health condition. Her condition is satisfactory, he added. The DG ISPR said the board of doctors has not yet made any decision in connection with taking young Malala abroad. The doctors are constantly busy in taking post-traumatic care of their patient, he said. He, however added, that Malala is still on a ventilator and it would be premature to say anything in regard to the removal of the ventilator at the moment. Two other girl students wounded with Malala were "also being taken care of at places where they can get best treatment", he said, without elaborating. Meanwhile the United Arab Emirates has sent an aircraft to fly out Malala Yousafzai who was shot in the head by the Taliban for further medical treatment. The 14 year old is currently being treated at the AFIC in Rawalpindi.

Malala symbol of hope for every Pakistani

Pakistan's Ambassador to the United States Sheery Rehman has said Malala Yousufzai is a symbol of hope‚ resolve and courage for every Pakistani. Talking to CNN she said the attack on the life of Malala depicts long struggle of the people of Pakistan against terrorism and a typical mindset. She said the people all over the country are now speaking out against this barbaric attack.

Afghan president asks Pakistan to fight extremism

AFP

Afghan President Hamid Karzai has written letters to top political and religious leaders in Pakistan, denouncing the Taliban attack on a Pakistani teenager who is promoting girls' education and asking them to help battle extremism in both countries. Malala Yousufzai, 14, was seriously wounded when a Taliban militant shot her in the head on Oct. 9 on her way home from school. She is widely respected for being an activist for girls' education in the Swat Valley where she lives, and the rest of Pakistan. The shooting set off an international outcry against extremists. Karzai's office said in a statement issued late Saturday that the president wrote that the attack on Yousufzai indicated that both Afghanistan and Pakistan need to take "coordinated and serious" steps to fight terrorism and extremism. Karzai wrote that he views the shooting as an attack on Afghanistan's girls as well. "It is a deplorable event that requires serious attention," Karzai wrote. Those upset about the shooting should not be silenced, he wrote, and both Afghans and Pakistanis need to cooperate and fight with strong resolve against terrorism and extremism so that the "children of Afghanistan and Pakistan" can be saved from oppression. Karzai has been pushing Islamabad to take more action against militant groups that he says hide out in Pakistan and then cross into Afghanistan to conduct attacks on Afghan officials and security forces and on international forces. The letters were sent to more than a dozen political and religious leaders, including Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari; Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf; Nawaz Sharif, the leader of Pakistan's Muslim League Party; Qazi Hussain Ahmed, leader of the Islamist party Jamaat-e-Islami; Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain, who heads the Pakistan Muslim League-Q; and Imran Khan, a cricket star who leads the Tehreek-e-Insaf party.

Pakistan teen's plight to survive would-be assassin's bullet 'slow and steady'

Malala Yousufzai's defiance is the stuff of legend: A 14-year-old teenager who took to the Internet to tell the world of her daily battle against the Pakistan Taliban to get an education. So, too, is her fight to survive a would-be assassin's bullet to the head. Her plight has united much of the nation, with everyone from elected officials to children decrying the attempted killing of the teen. Thousands were expected to take to the streets Sunday in Karachi in support of Malala and condemn the Taliban. Malala remained under the close watch of doctors at a Rawalpindi hospital where she was unconscious and on a ventilator. "She is making slow and steady progress which is in keeping with expectations," the Pakistani military said in a statement released Sunday. "Recovery from this type of injury is always slow." Doctors will assess Malala's progress again Sunday evening, the statement said. Over the weekend, the teen she moved her limbs after doctors "reduced sedation to make a clinical assessment," military spokesman Maj. Gen. Asim Bajwa said. It was the first indication that young Malala may recover from the shooting, though Bajwa cautioned against "putting a percentage" on her survival. "Such cases are very rare, that you get hit directly in the head and you survive," Bajwa told CNN in an interview that aired Sunday. "...We are hopeful. She is getting the best treatment that she could." Malala had become a Pakistani and international icon for her efforts defending the right of girls to go to school where she lives, the Taliban-heavy Swat Valley. She was riding home in a school van on Tuesday in the tense region, which sits along the Afghan border, when gunmen jumped into the vehicle and demanded to know which girl she was. Her horrified classmates pointed to her, and the men fired. Two other girls were wounded, but not seriously. Since then, supporters have gathered around the country for vigils to pray for her recovery. Government officials in Peshawar, the main city in the northwestern region where Malala is from, were silent for one minute in her honor. Malala gained fame for blogging about how girls should have rights in Pakistan, including the right to learn. She spoke out in a region of the country where support for Islamic fundamentalism runs high. "I have the right of education," she 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, whose writing earned her Pakistan's first National Peace Prize, also encouraged young people to take a stand against the Taliban -- and to not hide in their bedrooms. Police arrested 200 suspects, but released all but 35. Those still in detention gave police information that led to the arrest of three more suspects, said Ghulam Muhammad, a local government official. Bajwa refused to comment on the reports of the arrests, saying it was "not appropriate" to disclose details until the investigation was complete. He did, however, point blame. "There is no doubt in anyone's mind this is Taliban," he said. The Taliban, indeed, claimed responsibility for the shooting attack, saying they figured shooting the girl would have an impact in the West. The Taliban believe no girl should be educated, and they've threatened that if Malala survives, they will murder her. "We do not tolerate people like Malala speaking against us," Taliban spokesman Ihsanullah Ihsan said. Malala's family, meanwhile, waits, and hopes, yet they are afraid to give away where they are exactly. They're terrified that the Taliban who would gun down a teenager wouldn't hesitate to come after them. In the wake of the shooting, the teenager has come to symbolize a battle between freedom and oppression, violence and peace, a young generation and a group that is hell-bent on keeping Pakistan under the grip of Islamic extremism. On her blog, Malala often wrote about her life in Swat Valley, a hotbed of militant activity. The valley near the Afghanistan border once attracted tourists to Pakistan's only ski resort, as well as visitors to the ancient Buddhist ruins in the area. But that was before militants -- their faces covered -- unleashed a wave of violence in 2003. 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. But young Malala defied the Taliban edict, demanding an education. For that, she got a bullet to the head -- and the attention of much of the world.

UAE to send air ambulance for Malala Yousufzai

The United Arab Emirates plans to send a specialized aircraft to serve as an ambulance for a 14-year-old Pakistani girl shot by the Taliban in case doctors decide to send her abroad for treatment, a Pakistani official said Sunday. The shooting of Malala Yousufzai along with two classmates while they were on their way home from school on Oct. 9 horrified people in Pakistan and internationally. She was shot for promoting girl's education and criticizing the Taliban. The attack left Yousufzai seriously wounded and sparked calls for the Pakistani government to step up its fight against the militant group. Visas are being finalized for the air ambulance crew and six doctors who will accompany the flight, Islamabad's Ambassador to the UAE Jamil Ahmed Khan told Pakistan's Geo TV on Sunday. Arrangements have been made to treat the girl at three hospitals in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, he said. The UAE Embassy in Islamabad could not immediately be reached for comment. No decision has yet been taken to send the girl abroad, but the air ambulance is part of the contingency plan, the Pakistani military said Sunday. Yousufzai is being treated in a military hospital, where doctors removed a bullet from her neck. The bullet went into her head before travelling toward her spine. Doctors reviewed the girl's condition Sunday and are satisfied she is making slow and steady progress, the military said. They will carry out another detailed review Sunday evening. On Saturday, the military said Yousufzai remained on a ventilator but was able to move her legs and hands after her sedatives were reduced. Yousufzai earned the enmity of the Taliban for publicizing their behavior when they took over the northwestern Swat Valley where she lived and for speaking about the importance of education for girls. The group first started to exert its influence in Swat in 2007 and quickly extended its reach to much of the valley by the next year. They set about imposing their will on residents by forcing men to grow beards, preventing women from going to the market and blowing up many schools – the majority for girls. Yousufzai wrote about these practices in a journal for the BBC under a pseudonym when she was just 11. After the Taliban were pushed out of the valley in 2009 by the Pakistani military, she became even more outspoken in advocating for girls' education. She appeared frequently in the media and was given one of the country's highest honors for civilians for her bravery. The Pakistani Taliban said they carried out the shooting because Yousufzai was promoting "Western thinking.'' They said it was ordered by the leader of the Taliban movement in Swat, Maulana Fazlullah, and his deputies, who are all believed to have fled to Afghanistan after the military invaded in 2009. Police have arrested at least three suspects in connection with the attack, but the two gunmen who carried out the shooting remain at large. Afghan President Hamid Karzai has written letters to top political and religious leaders in Pakistan denouncing the attack on Yousufzai and asking them to help battle extremism in both countries, the president's office said in a statement issued late Saturday. Karzai wrote that he views the shooting as an attack on Afghanistan's girls as well. "It is a deplorable event that requires serious attention,'' Karzai wrote. Those upset about the shooting should not be silenced, he wrote, and both Afghans and Pakistanis need to cooperate and fight with strong resolve against terrorism and extremism so that the "children of Afghanistan and Pakistan'' can be saved from oppression. Karzai has been pushing Islamabad to take more action against militant groups that he says hide out in Pakistan and then cross into Afghanistan to conduct attacks on Afghan officials and security forces and on international forces.

Reuters Video:Pakistani schoolgirl 'stable' after Taliban attack

Officials say 14-year-old Malala Yousufzai, who was shot by Taliban gunmen, is in a stable condition in hospital, as students continue to protest against the attack. Sarah Charlton reports

Will attack on a child at last prod Pakistan?

BY TRUDY RUBIN

Pakistanis have united in outrage over the Taliban's attack on 14-year-old Malala Yousafzai, who campaigned for girls' education and became a prominent symbol of defiance against Islamist rule. Gunmen boarded a school bus, asked for Malala by name, and shot her in the head (as I write this, she is in critical condition). A Pakistani Taliban spokesman defended the attack, justifying it because Malala was promoting "enlightened moderation." He said they would attack her again if she recovered. So, as Malala fights for life, I have a question: Will this atrocity finally push Pakistan's military and ISI intelligence agency to reject the militancy that pervades the country? Will Pakistan's leaders acknowledge they can't fight certain Taliban groups while providing a haven for other groups that are useful tools against their archenemy, India? Malala's story shows how shortsighted, indeed suicidal, that approach is for Pakistan, where militants want to take over a nuclear-armed country. As the Pakistani daily the News put it after the shooting: "Malala Yousafzai is in critical condition today and so is Pakistan." I have a personal interest in Malala's case. In November 2009, I visited the beautiful Swat valley, where she and her family lived, and which had fallen prey to the Taliban. While there, I had a moving conversation with Malala's father, Ziauddin Yousafzai - a human-rights campaigner who ran an independent school for girls. With its mountains and waterfalls, Swat had once been a tourist destination where generations of Pakistanis went for their honeymoons. But in 2008, a vicious group of Taliban moved in from the adjacent tribal areas and took over the valley. They shut down girls' schools, including the one run by Yousafzai, cut off the heads of anyone who challenged them, and murdered women. At the time, 11-year-old Malala started writing an anonymous blog for the BBC about life under the Taliban. The residents felt abandoned by their political leaders. Indeed, during a visit to Pakistan in April 2009, I had watched in amazement as the parliament endorsed a deal with the leader of the Swat militants that would have conceded them the valley. The only thing that saved the people of Swat was that the Taliban started marching toward Islamabad a week after the deal was signed. The parliament quickly rescinded the pact, and the Pakistani army mounted a massive assault on the militants, pushing them back. By the time I arrived in November, the militants were no longer visible, but people there were still nervous. They felt trapped between the militants and the military. Local merchants were convinced the Taliban couldn't have grown so strong if the military and ISI hadn't coddled them. "When the dragon becomes too large," one told me, asking for anonymity, "it eats its own. There are still some Pakistani agencies [meaning the ISI] who have a soft spot for the Taliban." I sat in the garden of a local architect's home, talking with prominent Swat civic leaders, including Malala's father. He told me that even after the army supposedly vanquished the Taliban and he went to reopen his school, he was afraid the Taliban would kill him. He slept every night in a different house. "We had terrorists in our valley," he told me. "They wanted to negate our right to culture and poetry, and they wanted to destroy the special musical heritage of our valley. They want to impose their culture on us." Then Yousafzai got to the point that most disturbed him: Pakistan's political leaders were failing to tell their own people that the Taliban presented a mortal threat, and could only drag the country backward. When it came to fighting the Taliban, he said, "Pakistan's religious parties, even Imran Khan [the famous cricket player turned politician], all say it's America's war, not my war. How can they say this if my children are being killed in Swat?" This brave man was referring then to the female students from his school who were at risk from the Taliban. Today it is his own daughter who is at death's door. Even now I wonder whether Malala's sacrifice is enough to wake the country to the threat it faces. Pakistani journalists tell me the country's religious parties, while denouncing the attack on Malala, have not condemned the Taliban by name. Nor has Imran Khan, who offered to pay for Malala's medical care but who still talks of deals with the militants. Pakistan's top general rushed to Malala's bedside. But Pakistan still harbors the Afghan Taliban leaders who are responsible for the death of many thousands of civilians and want to take over Afghanistan after U.S. troops leave. And Pakistan harbors terrorist groups that murder Pakistani Shiites, Ahmadis, and Christians Perhaps the attack on Malala will jolt her country into a new reality. I really hope so. But it won't happen unless Pakistani generals and politicians display the same courage as this young girl.

Key meeting on Malala’s treatment today

The Express Tribune

Though she remains far from a complete recovery, Malala Yousafzai’s condition showed some improvement on Saturday, according to her doctors and family members. Military sources stationed at the Armed Forces Institute of Cardiology (AFIC) said doctors treating the 14-year-old activist were hopeful after she showed response to pain. They quoted the head surgeon as saying this heralded recovery for someone on ventilator support. More than 31 hours have passed since doctors announced that the next 48 hours would be critical for Malala’s life. She remains confined to the ventilator, but military sources said her condition and vital signs remain satisfactory. The final decision to remove her from the ventilator and shift her to Germany for treatment will be taken on Sunday morning (today) in a high-level meeting to discuss her latest test reports, according to the sources. After Malala was shot in the head by the Taliban, the surgeons operating on her had expressed fear of possible brain damage. However, all of her medical reports came out clear. Earlier, doctors had said she had a 70% chance of survival. Director-General Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR) Major General Asim Saleem Bajwa also confirmed to the media that Malala is showing signs of improvement since Saturday. Talking to The Express Tribune, her brother Mehmud, too, said that, while she is still unconscious due to heavy medication intended to relieve her from severe pain, her responses showed some improvement.

President Zardari to launch 3 day polio vaccination campaign on Monday

http://www.radio.gov.pk

3 days national Polio Immunization Campaign will be launched on Monday to vaccinate children aged less than five years. A three day national Polio Immunization Campaign will be launched on Monday to vaccinate children aged less than five years. A special ceremony will be organized at Aiwan-e-Sadr in Islamabad for launching the campaign. President Asif Ali Zardari‚ Provincial Governors‚ Prime Minister of Azad Jammu and Kashmir and all the Chief Secretaries will attend the ceremony.