By Jibran Ahmad
PESHAWAR, Pakistan Oct 11 (Reuters) – 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.
Yousufzai began standing up to the Pakistani Taliban when
she was just 11, when the government had effectively ceded
control of the Swat Valley where she lives to the militants.
Her father, Ziauddin Yousufzai, who runs a girls’ school,
said his daughter had defied threats for years, believing the
good work she was doing for her community was her best
protection.
A Reuters correspondent watched as she was moved from an
army hospital in the regional capital of Peshawar to the Armed
Forces Institute of Cardiology in Rawalpindi to help her
treatment.
“Pray for her,” her distraught uncle, Faiz Mohammad, said
before the ambulance left the hospital.
A husband-and-wife team of two British doctors who were
attending a seminar in Pakistan at the time of the attack on
Thursday joined local surgeons in treating Yousufzai.
She was shot with two other girls on Tuesday as she left
school in Swat, northwest of Islamabad. One of the girls is out
of danger and the other remains in critical condition.
A Taliban spokesman said she was targeted for trying to
spread Western culture and that they would try to kill her again
if she survived.
“BARBARIC AND COWARDLY”
Authorities had identified her attackers, said regional
governor Masood Kausar. The local government has posted a 10
million rupee reward for their capture.
“The security agencies are closely working with each other
and they have a lot of information about the perpetrators. We
hope our security agencies will soon capture them and bring to
justice,” he said.
The attack outraged many in Pakistan, with small, impromptu
rallies held in her support in many cities. Schools had also
closed across Swat in protest over the shooting and a small
demonstration was held in her hometown of Mingora.
Pakistan’s president, prime minister, and heads of various
opposition parties joined human rights group Amnesty
International and the United Nations in condemning the attack.
On Wednesday, White House spokesman Jay Carney said the
United States had offered any assistance necessary.
“The president found the news reprehensible and disgusting
and tragic,” Carney told reporters.
“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.”
Yousufzai had spent the last three years campaigning for
girls’ education after the Taliban shut down girls’ schools. She
received Pakistan’s highest civilian award but also a number of
death threats.
In 2009, the army pushed the Taliban out of her hometown of
Mingora, but the attack showed the militia’s ability to strike
even inside heavily patrolled towns.
