Malala defied threats for years, says father

PESHAWAR: The 14-year-old Pakistani schoolgirl campaigner shot by the Taleban had defied threats for years, believing the good work she was doing for her community was her best protection, her father said yesterday.
Pakistani doctors yesterday removed a bullet from a 14-year-old child campaigner shot by the Taleban in a horrific attack condemned by national leaders and rights activists.
Malala Yousufzai, 14, is in intensive care after being shot in the head in broad daylight on a school bus Tuesday. The attack took place in Mingora, the main town of the Swat valley in Pakistan’s northwest, where Malala had campaigned for the right to an education during a two-year Taleban insurgency which the army said it had crushed in 2009.
She underwent surgery to remove the bullet lodged near her shoulder at the Combined Military Hospital in the northwestern city of Peshawar, where doctors described her condition as critical.
Preparations were made to fly her abroad, but one military source told AFP that she was currently too ill to travel. “She is in critical condition and doctors believe she cannot travel abroad immediately,” he said, on condition of anonymity.
Doctors earlier confirmed that the bullet had been removed from her shoulder. “We have decided not to shift her for the time being, unless we get clearance from the medical team,” Interior Minister Rehman Malik told reporters.
“Malala is our pride. She became an icon for the country. I pray that she lives a healthy and long life,” he said. There has been shock and revulsion in Pakistan, where schoolchildren across the country yesterday offered prayers for her recovery.
The powerful army chief General Ashfaq Kayani visited Malala yesterday, and said it was time to “further unite and stand up to fight the propagators of such barbaric mindset and their sympathizers”.
“She has become a symbol for the values that the army, with the nation behind it, is fighting to preserve for our future generations,” he said. “We wish to bring home a simple message: We refuse to bow before terror. We will fight, regardless of the cost, we will prevail inshallah (God willing).”