Malala

//Behind the Veil // ~ ~ ~ ~ Meet Malala ~ ~ ~ ~ media type="youtube" key="3ZnApWnOAdM" height="216" width="384" align="left" [|Graphic Novel - Malala] [|videoes re-Malala] [|Malala bio] [|Nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize]Nobel Peace Prize On the way back from school she was shot in the head by the Taliban in Pakistan.

Why? She spoke up for her right to go to school.



Malala was shot in the head and neck when militants fired on her school bus on Tuesday. The bus was about to leave the school grounds in the city of Mingora when a bearded man approached it and asked which one of the girls was Malala, said Rasool Shah, the local police chief. Another girl pointed to Malala, but the activist denied it was her and the gunmen then shot both of the girls. media type="youtube" key="18U4E7JbRwQ" height="360" width="640" align="center"

Later that day, the Taliban claimed responsibility for the incident in the Swat valley, northwest of the capital Islamabad. Taliban spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan told Reuters his group was behind the shooting.

"She was pro-West, she was speaking against Taliban and she was calling President Obama her idol."

Malala was shot twice — once in the head and once in the neck — but her wounds were not life-threatening, according to Tariq Mohammad, a doctor at the main hospital in Mingora. Security forces have cordoned off the hospital. Pakistani girl shot over activism in Swat valley, claims Taliban [|Malala Yousafzai's November 2011 speech on education - video]



Malala Yousafzai, 14, attacked for championing education for girls and highlighting Taliban atrocities, says group Malala Yousafzai receives the National Youth Peace Prize from Pakistan's prime minister, Yousuf Raza Gilani.

The attack on [|Malala Yousafzai], who became famous for highlighting Taliban atrocities, happened as she sat in a bus preparing to leave the school grounds in Mingora, the main city in the Swat valley which was the scene of intense fighting between the army and the Taliban in 2009.

At least one other girl was also hurt in the attack on Tuesday that a Taliban spokesman, Ehsanullah Ehsan, quickly claimed the group was responsible for.

He said the teenager's work had been an "obscenity" that needed to be stopped: "This was a new chapter of obscenity, and we have to finish this chapter."

Doctors said the gunshot wounds to her head and neck were serious and that she might have to be moved to a larger hospital in Islamabad or Peshawar.

Fazal Maula Zahid, a member of Swat Qaumi Jirga, a local anti-Taliban group working for peace in the valley, said the gunman had asked which of the girls was Malala. One of the girls pointed to Malala, but the activist denied it was her. The gunman shot both of the girls.

"An attack on Malala in a highly secured area has sent a shiver down the spine of Swati people," Zahid said.

"It has also created doubts about the claims of the authorities that militants have been flushed out from Swat."

Malala won fame in 2009 during the Pakistani army operations to crush a Taliban insurgency that had taken hold in the Swat valley, an area popular among Pakistani tourists three hours drive from Islamabad.

As part of her campaign for girls' education [|she wrote an anonymous blog for the BBC] about the chaos at the time, including the burning of girls' schools. Her efforts were recognized by [|Pakistan]'s prime minister who awarded her the country's first National Peace award and a reward of around £3,300 after she missed out on winning the International Children's Peace Prize for which she was nominated in 2011. She had also spoken of her desire to set up her own political party and a vocational institute for marginalized girls in her area.

All the publicity displeased the Pakistani Taliban, which had put her and her family on its "hit list" for backing "the imposition of secular" government in Swat. The attack in the army-dominated Mingora has led some to question government claims that the military has dismantled the militants' operation in Swat.

[|Malala's Father comments at] ** //The Associated Press October 26, 2012// ** The father of Malala Yousufzai,the 15-year-old girl shot by the Taliban in Pakistan,says his daugher is strong and recovering well in a British hospital. Sunita Rappai reports. LONDON — The father of a 15-year-old Pakistani girl shot in the head by the Taliban described his daughter’s survival and recovery as miraculous Friday, and said her shooting was a turning point for Pakistan.

Malala Yousufzai is recovering a in Birmingham hospital, where she was flown for treatment and protection from Taliban threats after she was shot on Oct. 9 in northwestern Pakistan. Her father, Ziauddin, flew to the U.K. to be by her side.

“When she fell, the world stood,” he said of Malala, respected internationally as an activist for girls’ education.

“She will rise again. She will stand again. She can stand now.”

Yousufzai said he initially feared he would need to prepare for his daughter’s funeral and that her recovery was “a miracle for us.”

“She is recovering at an encouraging speed and we are very happy,” he said. He expressed gratitude for prayers and well-wishes from all over the world, saying the outpouring united Pakistan in condemnation.

A Taliban gunman shot Malala as she was in a school bus on her way home from school in the Swat Valley city of Mingora. Two other girls were injured in the attack. She was airlifted to Britain on Oct. 15. The Taliban have vowed to kill her, raising questions about whether it would be safe for her to return but her father rejected reports the family might seek asylum abroad.

Since she was shot, Malala has become a hero both at home and internationally, although her work in speaking out against Taliban atrocities and advocating for girls’ education has long been respected and known beyond her native Swat Valley.

The family were reunited Thursday night.

“I love her and last night, when we met her, there were tears in our eyes out of happiness,” Yousufzai said Friday. “We all cried a little bit.” © Copyright (c) Read more: [|Pakistani girl's survivial after being shot in head by Taliban a 'miracle'] media type="youtube" key="9F5yeW6XFZk" height="161" width="286" align="left" media type="youtube" key="gjGL6YY6oMs" height="160" width="284" align="left"