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Teenage rights activist shot in Pakistan
Campaigner for girls' education Malala Yusafzai wounded on way home from
school in attack claimed by Pakistani Taliban.
Last Modified: 09 Oct 2012 19:12
Malala Yusafzai, a 14-year-old education rights activist, has been shot
and injured while on her way home from school in Mingora, the main town in the
Swat Valley region of northwest Pakistan.
She was being treated at Peshawar's Combined Military Hospital and was in
critical condition late on Tuesday night, family members told Al Jazeera.
Ahmed Shah Yusafzai, Malala's uncle, told Al Jazeera that there was
"strict security inside and outside the hospital".
Yusafzai was with one other girl, taking a school van home following an
examination at the Khushal public school, witnesses told Al Jazeera of the
shooting, which occurred earlier in the day.
Unidentified men stopped the vehicle, asking if it was the transport from
Khushal school. When told that it was, one man asked: "Where is Malala?"
As she was identified, the assailant reportedly drew a pistol and shot
Yusufzai in the head and the neck.
"The man started firing a handgun [...] then I don't know what happened
to me and found myself in hospital," said Shazia Ramazan, a schoolmate of
Yusafzai who was shot in the hand.
Doctors at the Saidu Sharif Medical Complex in Mingora said the bullet
penetrated Yusafzai's skull but missed her brain, leaving her out of danger.
Pakistani Taliban claim
The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), also known as the Pakistani
Taliban, has since claimed responsibility for the attack.
Ehsanullah Ehsan, Taliban spokesman, told AFP news agency that the group
carried out the attack after repeatedly warning Yusafzai to stop speaking out
against them.
"She is a Western-minded girl. She always speaks against us. We will
target anyone who speaks against the Taliban," he said by telephone from an
undisclosed location.
"We warned her several times to stop speaking against the Taliban and to
stop supporting Western non-governmental organisations, and to come to the path
of Islam."
The local chapter of the TTP, led by Maulana Fazlullah, controlled much
of Swat from 2007 to 2009, but were driven out by an army offensive in July
2009.
IN VIDEO
Witness: A documentary on Malala's work in Swat
Local reports indicate, however, that the group was only driven into the
surrounding areas, rather than being wiped out, and it has since staged a
resurgence.
Tuesday's shooting in broad daylight in Mingora, the main town of the
valley, raises serious questions about security more than three years after the
army claimed to have crushed the local Taliban.
Yusafzai rose to international prominence in 2009, after writing a diary
- under a pen-name - for BBC Urdu about life under the Taliban.
She had famously stood against the armed group's attempts to stop girls
from going to school, and was awarded the National Peace Award for Youth.
The international children's advocacy group KidsRights Foundation
nominated her for the International Children's Peace Prize, making her the
first Pakistani girl nominated for the award.
Her struggle resonated with tens of thousands of girls who were being
denied an education by the Taliban and other extremist groups across northwest
Pakistan, where the government has been fighting such groups since 2007.
She was 11 years old when she wrote the blog on the BBC Urdu website,
which at the time was anonymous. She also featured in two New York Times
documentaries.
Diary extract
In a 2011 BBC news report she read out an extract of her diary that gave
a sense of the fear she endured under the Taliban.
"I was very much scared because the Taliban announced yesterday that
girls should stop going to schools," she said.
"Today our head teacher told the school assembly that school uniform is
no longer compulsory and from tomorrow onwards, girls should come in their
normal dresses. Out of 27, only 11 girls attended the school today."
Asif Ali Zardari, the Pakistani president, strongly condemned the attack,
and said it would not shake Pakistan's resolve to fight the Taliban or the
government's determination to support women's education.
London-based rights group Amnesty International condemned the "shocking
act of violence" against a girl bravely fighting for an education.
"This attack highlights the extremely dangerous climate human rights
activists face in northwestern Pakistan, where particularly female activists
live under constant threats from the Taliban and other militant groups," it
said.
Mian Iftikhar Hussain, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa's information minister, said
Yusafzai had been targeted as "an icon of peace", calling for a sweeping
military offensive against all anti-state fighters in northwest Pakistan.
Asked if Malala would continue her work if she recovered, Ahmed Shah
Yusafzai, her uncle, told Al Jazeera: "Yes, of course. She always raises her
voice in favour of girl's education, and she was going to establish a
foundation named after her name - Malala Education Foundation - and she wanted
to work for those children who are not able to go to the school."
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