Schoolgirl activist shot by Taliban – Pakistan

by admin
Oct 8, 2012

A 14-year-old Pakistani rights activist, Malala Yousafzai, was shot and injured in the Swat Valley in Pakistan.

Malala rose to fame in 2009 for keeping a diary on BBC Urdu about life in the Swat Valley under Taliban rule. She was internationally recognised for criticising Taliban policies, especially the shutting of schools for girls, and was awarded the first National Peace Prize by the Pakistani government in 2011.

The BBC reports conflicting accounts of how the shooting, which happened on Malala’s way home from school, unfolded but she is now reportedly out of danger.

Ehsanullah Ehsan, speaking for the Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack saying:

"[Malala] was pro-West, she was speaking against Taliban and she was calling President Obama her idol. She was young but she was promoting Western culture in Pashtun areas."

Pakistani Prime Minister, Raja Pervez Ashraf, said in a statement about the attack:

"We have to fight the mind-set that is involved in this. We have to condemn it... Malala is like my daughter and yours too. If that mind-set prevails, then whose daughter would be safe?"

See here for extracts from Malala’s diary.

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