The teenager who wanted to go to school

15 October, 2012
© The New York Times
© Photo in The Telegraph by AFP/Getty Images

Updated on October 18th – Malala Yousafzai, the 14-year-old who was shot in the head by Taliban militants, was described to be “responding well to her care”, according to a hospital’s spokesman. The girl was flown on monday to a UK hospital specialized on treating people wounded in war. Doctors are planning reconstructive operations and they say she faces long-term rehabilitation. Thousands of well-wishers from all over the world are sending their support and prayers for Malala. The hospital’s charity has also a fund where donations can be made for her treatment.

Malala was targeted by the Taliban back in 2009, when she became a national hero after writing an anonymous blog where she condemned the ban on education rights for girls in her area, the Swat Valley. After the Taliban where out of her region she became internationally recognized for her fight. Malala’s family had already received numerous threats and continues to. “We wouldn’t leave our country if my daughter survives or not. We have an ideology that advocates peace. The Taliban cannot stop all independent voices through the force of bullets”, has declared Mr. Yousafzai in Rawalpindi, where her daughter was being treated until now.

The recent attack has horrified and dismayed Pakistan. Numerous human right groups, politicians and citizens have publicly condemned and demonstrated against this brutal attack. Girls in Mingora, Malala’s hometown, have declared that “bullets will not stop them attending school”. Authorities have offered a reward of 85.000 euros to capture the gunmen.

The Pakistan’s Military Chief of Army Staff, Ashfaq Kayani, has also showed his condemnation to the attack: “The cowards who attacked Malala and her fellow students have shown time and again how little regard they have for human life and how low they can fall in their cruel ambition to impose their twisted ideology”.

Related media links:

Malala has been flown to UK for further medical care – video

Malala back in 2009 in the Swat Valley (Pakistan) – video

“We are all Malala”

Life goes on in Mingora

Other links of interest:

Universal Declaration of Human Rights

 

(Visited 6 times, 1 visits today)
Comments
Add comment