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Malala Yousafzai
ملاله یوسفزۍ
Chair of District Child Assembly Swat
In office
2009–2011
Preceded by(post created)[1]
Personal details
Born (1997-07-12) July 12, 1997 (age 27)[2][3][4]
Mingora[5]
North West Frontier Province, Pakistan
CitizenshipPakistan[5]
NationalityPakistani[5]
Political partyNone[6]
EthnicityPashtun[7]
RelativesZiauddin Yousafzai (father)[4]
Known forYouth activism, women's rights activism, educationism,[5] shot by Taliban
OrganizationsMalala Education Fund[8][9]
AwardsInternational Children's Peace Prize (Runner-up, 2011)[10]
National Youth Peace Prize (2011)[5]

Malala Yousafzai (Pashto: ملاله یوسفزۍ Malālah Yūsafzay , born July 12, 1997)[2][4] is a school student and education activist from the town of Mingora in the Swat District of Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. She is known for her education and women's rights activism in the Swat Valley, where the Taliban has at times banned girls from attending school.[5][4] In early 2009, at the age of 11/12, Yousafzai wrote a blog under a pseudonym for the BBC detailing her life under Taliban rule, their attempts to take control of the valley, and her views on promoting education for girls.[11] The following summer, a New York Times documentary[4] was filmed about her life as the Pakistani military intervened in the region, culminating in the Second Battle of Swat.[12] Yousafzai began to rise in prominence, giving interviews in print and on television[13] and taking a position as chairperson of the District Child Assembly Swat.[14] She has since been nominated for the International Children's Peace Prize by Desmond Tutu[15] and has won Pakistan's first National Youth Peace Prize.[5]

On 9 October 2012, Yousafzai was shot in the head and neck in an assassination attempt by Taliban gunmen while returning home on a school bus.[16] In the days immediately following the attack, she remained unconscious and in critical condition,[17] but later her condition improved enough for her to be sent to a hospital in the United Kingdom for intensive rehabilitation. On 12 October a group of 50 Islamic clerics in Pakistan issued a fatwā against those who tried to kill her,[18] and the Taliban reiterated its intent to kill Yousafzai and her father, Ziauddin.[19]

Former British Prime Minister and current UN Special Envoy for Global Education Gordon Brown launched a United Nations petition[20] in Yousafzai's name, using the slogan "I am Malala" and demanding that all children worldwide be in school by the end of 2015. Brown said he would hand the petition to Pakistan's President Asif Ali Zardari in November.

Early life

Malala Yousafzai was born in July 1997 and given her first name, Malala, meaning "grief stricken",[11] after Malalai of Maiwand, a Pashtun poetess and warrior woman.[21] Her last name, Yousufzai, is that of a large Pashtun tribal confederation that is predominant in Pakistan's Swat Valley, where she grew up. At her house in Mingora, she lived with her two younger brothers, her parents, and two pet chickens.[4] She affectionately referred to the region as "my Swat."[11]

Yousafzai was shaped in large part by her father, Ziauddin Yousafzai, who is a poet, school owner and an educational activist himself, running a chain of schools known as the Khushal Public School, also named after a famous Pashtun poet, Khushal Khan Khattak.[22] She once stated to an interviewer that she would like to become a doctor, though later her father encouraged her to become a politician instead.[4] It has also been indicated that she may have wanted to be a pilot.[23] Ziauddin referred to his daughter as something entirely special, permitting her to stay up at night and talk about politics after her two brothers had been sent to bed.[24]

Yousafzai apparently started speaking about education rights as early as September 2008. Her father took her to Peshawar to speak at the local press club. "How dare the Taliban take away my basic right to education?" Yousafzai told her audience in a speech that was covered by newspapers and television channels, throughout the region.[25]

BBC blogger

See also: First Battle of Swat

At the beginning of 2009, Yousafzai had a chance to write for BBC Urdu when her father, Ziauddin, was asked by Abdul Hai Kakkar, a BBC reporter out of Pakistan, if any women at his school would write about life under the Taliban. At the time, Taliban militants led by Maulana Fazlullah were taking over the Swat Valley, banning television, music, girls’ education,[26] and women from going shopping.[5] Bodies of beheaded policemen were hanging from town squares.[26] At first, a girl named Aisha from her father's school agreed to write a diary, but then the girl's parents stopped her from doing it because they feared Taliban reprisals. The only alternative was Yousafzai, four years younger than the original volunteer, and in seventh grade at the time.[27] Editors at the BBC unanimously agreed.[26] It is unclear whether Yousafzai or her father first suggested that she write for the BBC.

“We had been covering the violence and politics in Swat in detail but we didn’t know much about how ordinary people lived under the Taliban,” Mirza Waheed, the former editor of BBC Urdu, said. Because they were concerned about Yousafzai's safety, BBC editors insisted that she use a pseudonym.[26] Her blog would be published under the byline "Gul Makai" ("corn flower" in Urdu),[28] a name taken from a character in a Pashtun folktale.[29][30]

I had a terrible dream yesterday with military helicopters and the Taleban. I have had such dreams since the launch of the military operation in Swat. My mother made me breakfast and I went off to school. I was afraid going to school because the Taleban had issued an edict banning all girls from attending schools.

Only 11 students attended the class out of 27. The number decreased because of Taleban's edict. My three friends have shifted to Peshawar, Lahore and Rawalpindi with their families after this edict.

On my way from school to home I heard a man saying 'I will kill you'. I hastened my pace and after a while I looked back if the man was still coming behind me. But to my utter relief he was talking on his mobile and must have been threatening someone else over the phone.

Malala Yousafzai, 3 January 2009 BBC blog entry[11]

On 3 January 2009, Yousafzai's first entry was posted to the BBC Urdu blog that would later make her famous. She would hand-write notes and then pass them on to a reporter who would scan and e-mail them.[26] The blog captures Yousafzai's troubled psychological state during the First Battle of Swat, as military operations take place, fewer girls show up to school, and finally, her school shuts down.

In Mingora, the Taliban had set an edict that no girls could attend school after 15 January 2009. They had already blown up more than a hundred girls’ schools.[26] In the days leading up to the ban, Yousafzai's school principal had instructed her not to wear school uniforms anymore, but rather plain clothes that would not attract attention. Instead, Yousafzai wrote in her blog, "I decided to wear my favourite pink dress. Other girls in school were also wearing colourful dresses and the school presented a homely look."[11]

The night before the ban took effect was filled with the noise of artillery fire, waking Yousafzai multiple times. The following morning, she woke up late, but afterwards her friend came over and they discussed homework as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened. That day, Yousafzai also read for the first time excerpts from her blog that had been published in a local newspaper. Her father, Ziauddin, recalled that someone had come up to him with the diary saying how wonderful it was, but he could only smile and not tell them it was actually written by his daughter.[11]

Banned from school

After the ban, the Taliban continued to destroy schools in the area. On 19 January, Yousafzai wrote "Five more schools have been destroyed, one of them was near my house. I am quite surprised, because these schools were closed so why did they also need to be destroyed?"[31] But Yousafzai did not stop thinking about her education. Five days later in her blog, she wrote about studying for her exams: "Our annual exams are due after the vacations but this will only be possible if the Taliban allow girls to go to school. We were told to prepare certain chapters for the exam but I do not feel like studying."[31] She also criticizes the Pakistani military's operations many times.

It seems that it is only when dozens of schools have been destroyed and hundreds others closed down that the army thinks about protecting them. Had they conducted their operations here properly, this situation would not have arisen.

Malala Yousafzai 24 January 2009 BBC blog entry[31]

To gain the sympathy of the public, the Pakistani military had taken to throwing toffees from helicopters, but it did not last long. "Whenever we hear the choppers flying we run out and wait for the toffees but it does not happen anymore", Yousafzai wrote on 26 January. Two days later, Yousafzai traveled to Islamabad with her parents, but despite the havoc of the Swat Valley, she could not resist making comparisons: "It is my first visit to the city. It’s beautiful with nice bungalows and wide roads. But as compared to my Swat city it lacks natural beauty".[31] After Islamabad, the family traveled to Peshawar, where they stayed briefly with relatives. Yousafzai writes about her five-year-old brother who was playing in the lawn. Her father asked him what he was doing, and he replied "I am making a grave". The war was taking a toll on both her brothers. On the road to Bannu their bus hit a pothole, waking her 10-year-old brother, who asked their mother, "Was it a bomb blast?"[31] In Bannu, where women customarily wear veils, Yousafzai "refused to wear one on the grounds that I found it difficult to walk with it on".[31]

By February 2009, Yousafzai was back in Swat, but girls' schools were still closed. In solidarity, private schools for boys had decided not to open until 9 February, and notices appeared saying so. But no such notices had been displayed outside girls' schools.[31] On 7 February, Yousafzai and a brother returned to their hometown of Mingora, where the streets were deserted, and there was an "eerie silence". "We went to supermarket to buy a gift for our mother but it was closed, whereas earlier it used to remain open till late. Many other shops were also closed", she writes in her blog. Their home was burglarized and their television stolen.[31]

Precarious peace

After boys' schools reopened, the Taliban lifted restrictions on girls' primary education, where there was co-education. Girls-only schools were still closed. Yousafzai wrote that only 70 pupils out of 700 students who were enrolled attended.[31] On 9 February, Yousafzai's maid mentioned that the situation in Swat had become “very precarious” and that her husband told her to go back to Attock. Yousafzai went on to write about it thoughtfully in her blog.

People do not leave their homeland on their own free will – only poverty or a lover usually makes you leave so rapidly.

Malala Yousafzai 9 February 2009 BBC blog entry[31]

As some of her daily routines began to return to normal, Yousafzai wrote more about her home life, in which one can gain insight into her personality. On 12 February, she mentioned that her teacher for religious education came in the afternoon. In the evening she played with her brothers "amid fighting and arguments", and she also played computer games.[31] It is known that she owned a laptop.[24] Yousafzai mentioned that before the Taliban imposed restrictions on the cable network, she used to watch the Star Plus television channel and her favorite drama was Raja Kee Aye Gee Barat, which she translated as "My dream boy will come to marry me".[31]

On 15 February, gunshots could be heard in the streets of Mingora, but Yousafzai's father, Ziauddin, reassured her, saying "don’t be scared – this is firing for peace". Her father had read in the newspaper that the government and the militants were going to sign a peace deal the next day. Later that night, when the Taliban announced the peace deal on their FM Radio studio, another round of stronger firing started outside. "People believe more in what the militants say rather than the government," Yousafzai wrote in her blog. When they heard the announcement, Yousafzai's mother and father started crying, and her two younger brothers had tears in their eyes.[31]

Only three days later, their hopes were tested. A Pakistani reporter, Musa Khankhel, had been killed after covering a peace rally led by Sufi Muhammad, father-in-law of local Taliban leader Maulana Fazlulla.[32] That same day, 18 February 2009, Yousafzai apparently gave an interview with Capital Talk, a well-known Pakistani news program.[33][34] She would return to the same program six months later.

On 21 February, Yousafzai got what she had been hoping for. Fazlulla announced on his FM radio station that he was lifting the ban on women's education, and girls would be allowed to attend school until exams were held on 17 March, but they had to wear burqas.[31]

Girls' schools reopen

On 25 February, Yousafzai wrote on her blog that she and her classmates "played a lot in class and enjoyed ourselves like we used to before".[31] Helicopters aren't appearing as frequently nor discussions about the army and Taliban. But there is still gossip in town about a woman who fell down wearing a traditional burqa, and when a man tried to help her she refused, saying “Don’t help me brother, as this will bring immense pleasure to Maulana Fazlullah”.[31]

On 1 March, attendance at Yousafzai's class was up to 19 of 27 pupils, but the Taliban were still active in the area. Shelling continued and relief goods meant for displaced people were looted.[31] Only two days later it appeared that the peace deal was breaking down. Yousafzai wrote that there was a skirmish between the military and Taliban, and the sounds of mortar shells could be heard. "People are again scared that the peace may not last for long. Some people are saying that the peace agreement is not permanent, it is just a break in fighting," she writes. Her younger brother is scared to go to school, because he fears he might be kidnapped.[31]

O God bring peace to Swat and if not then bring either the US or China here.

Malala Yousafzai quoting her younger brother, 3 March 2009[31]

On 9 March, Yousafzai wrote about a science paper that she performed well on, and added that the Taliban were no longer searching vehicles as they once did. Her blog ends three days later on 12 March 2009.[35] The following month, in April, President Asif Ali Zardari signed a controversial regulation into law that formally established a stricter interpretation of sharia law in the Swat region.[36] The act is supported by Sufi Muhammad, the founder of Tehreek-e-Nafaz-e-Shariat-e-Mohammadi, a Taliban group operating in the area, who says that now "women will not be allowed either to go to jobs or markets".[36] It is unclear how Yousafzai was affected by this outcome. Later that month, government and Taliban forces began to clash once again, and in May the government launched military operations throughout the district.

Refugee

See also: Second Battle of Swat

After the BBC diary ended, Yousafzai and her father were approached by New York Times reporter Adam B. Ellick about filming a documentary,[27] which is where many details of this time are captured. In May, the Pakistani Army moved into the region to regain control during the Second Battle of Swat. Mingora was evacuated and Yousafzai’s family was displaced and separated. Her father Ziauddin went to Peshawar to protest and lobby for support, while she was sent into the countryside to live with relatives. "I'm really bored because I have no books to read" Yousafzai is filmed saying in the documentary. Her mother was not allowed to be filmed.[4]

That month, after criticizing militants at a press conference, Yousafzai's father, Ziauddin, received a death threat over the radio by a Taliban commander. Obsessed by his mission to restore the Swat Valley, her father also happened to forget Yousafzai's birthday,[4] and with typical boldness, she ridiculed him in a text message and forced him to apologize, and to buy everyone a round of ice cream.[24] But Yousafzai was deeply inspired in her activism by her father. That summer, for the first time, she committed to becoming a politician and not a doctor, as she had once aspired to be.[4]

I have a new dream … I must be a politician to save this country. There are so many crises in our country. I want to remove these crises.

Malala Yousafzai Class Dismissed (documentary)[4]

By early July, refugee camps were filled to capacity, and Taliban commanders were still alive. The prime minister made a long-awaited announcement saying that it was safe to return to the Swat Valley. The Pakistani military had pushed the Taliban out of the cities and into the countryside. After three months of separation, Yousafzai's family reunited, and on 24 July 2009 they headed home. They made one stop first – to meet with a group of other grassroots activists that had been invited to see United States President Obama’s special representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan, Richard Holbrooke. Yousafzai pleaded with Holbrooke to intervene in the situation, saying "Respected ambassador, if you can help us in our education, so please help us". When her family finally did return home, they found it had not been damaged, and her school had sustained only light damage.[4]

Political career and activism

Following the documentary, Yousafzai was interviewed on the national Pashto-language station AVT Khyber, the Urdu Aaj Daily, and Canada’s Toronto Star.[27] On 19 August she returned to Capital Talk, where she reiterated her desire to become a politician, naming Benazir Bhutto as an inspiration. She reportedly criticized President Zardari on television, saying "At times I think if Zardari’s daughter were studying in Swat the schools would have never shut down.”[33][37]

Her BBC blogging identity was being revealed in articles as early as December 2009.[13][38] She also began appearing on television to publicly advocate for female education.[5] But Yousafzai's recognition seems to have been taking off not only because of her own actions, but also because of her father, who had become known as one of the few people to stand up against the Taliban. “Those were the most terrible days – the darkest in our history,” her father said. “We spared no efforts to speak up against terrorism and that struggle brought us into the limelight". As for Yousafzai, her father says she “got influenced by what was going on and gradually she joined me in our struggle against extremism”.[27]

My purpose is to serve humanity.

Malala Yousafzai[39]

Chair of District Child Assembly Swat

In late 2009, Yousafzai's political career appears to have started. A video dated 22 December 2009 shows Yousafzai entering an assembly room full of children who rise and begin clapping as they see her. She takes her chair at a table onstage where, behind her, a large banner reads District Child Assembly Swat.[40] A UNICEF video from the following year explains. The assembly was established by the Khpal Kor Foundation in 2009[1] with the support of UNICEF, to provide "a unique opportunity for young people to voice their concerns about child right's issues, and to present solutions to address these concerns." The video goes on to highlight Yousafzai, the chair of the assembly, and her opinion of the discussion. "It was a good experience for the girls that they can share their views in front of the stakeholders, the non-governmental and governmental organizations", she says.[14] She appears to have held the position through at least November 2011.[41]

Continued activism

In December 2009 at the latest,[13] Yousafzai began participating in the Institute for War and Peace Reporting's "Open Minds" project, which brought journalism training and discussions of current affairs to 42 schools in Pakistan. The program also edited their work and put them in touch with local newspapers. Yousafzai's own success had inspired other young people, and many of those approaching the program were girls.[27]

Yousafzai had hoped to organize the Malala Education Foundation, which would help poor girls go to school.[9] A video from April 2012 refers to the foundation.[8]

Rise to fame

In October 2011,[15] Desmond Tutu announced Yousafzai's nomination for the International Children's Peace Prize and she became a celebrity in Pakistan. Her public profile rose even further when she was awarded Pakistan's first National Youth Peace Prize two months later in December.[26]

As Yousafzai became more recognized, the dangers facing her became more acute. The Taliban has been known to attack civilians who speak out against the group. Death threats were published in newspapers and slipped under her door.[42] On Facebook, where she was an active user, she began to receive threats and fake profiles were created under her name. Yousafzai deleted her personal page and attended digital-security sessions, but vowed to “never stop working for education for girls".[26]

I think of it often and imagine the scene clearly. Even if they come to kill me, I will tell them what they are trying to do is wrong, that education is our basic right.

Malala Yousafzai envisioning a confrontation with the Taliban[26]

When none of this worked, a Taliban spokesman says they were "forced" to act. In a meeting held in the summer of 2012, Taliban leaders unanimously agreed to kill her.[42]

Assassination attempt

On 9 October 2012, a Taliban gunman shot Yousafzai as she rode home on a bus after taking an exam in Pakistan’s Swat Valley. The masked gunman shouted "Which one of you is Malala? Speak up, otherwise I will shoot you all,"[22] and, on her being identified, shot her twice, once in the head and once in the neck. Two other girls were also wounded in the shooting: Kainat Riaz and Shazia Ramzan,[19] both of whom were stable enough to speak to reporters and provide details of the attack.

After the shooting, Yousafzai was airlifted to a military hospital in Peshawar, where doctors were forced to begin operating after swelling developed in the left portion of her brain, which had been damaged by the bullet when it passed through her head.[43] After a three-hour operation, doctors successfully removed the bullet that had lodged in her shoulder near her spinal cord.

Taliban attack

Ehsanullah Ehsan, chief spokesman for the Pakistani Taliban, claimed responsibility for the attack, saying that Yousafzai "is the symbol of the infidels and obscenity," adding that if she survived, they would target her again.[16] Taliban leaders had decided a few months earlier to kill her, and assigned gunmen to carry it out.[44] In the days following the attack, the Taliban reiterated their justification, saying Yousafzai had been brainwashed by her father, Ziauddin. “We warned him several times to stop his daughter from using dirty language against us, but he didn’t listen and forced us to take this extreme step,” a Taliban spokesman said, adding that Yousafzai and her father remain on the Taliban’s list of intended victims.[19]

The Taliban later seemed to be qualifying their criticism, saying "We did not attack her for raising voice for education. We targeted her for opposing mujahideen and their war", although the Taliban had closed girls' schools in Swat as part of their rule. The Taliban also justified their attack as part of religious scripture, saying that the "Quran says that people propagating against Islam and Islamic forces would be killed", going on to say that "Sharia says that even a child can be killed if he is propagating against Islam".[45] Other groups strongly disagreed. On 12 October 2012, a group of 50 Islamic clerics in Pakistan issued a fatwā – a ruling of Islamic law – against the Taliban gunmen who tried to kill Yousafzai. Islamic scholars from the Sunni Ittehad Council publicly denounced attempts by the Pakistani Taliban to mount religious justifications for the shooting of Yousafzai and two of her classmates.[18] Most Pakistani government officials have refrained from publicly criticising the Taliban by name over the attack, in what critics say is a lack of resolve against extremism.[45]

Medical treatment

The day following the attack, Yousafzai was still being treated in the intensive care unit of the military hospital in Peshawar, where doctors performed a decompressive craniectomy, in which part of the skull is removed to allow room for the brain to swell. Before the surgery, Yousafzai was moving her hands and feet, which suggested there was no paralysis, and she verbally responded to a teacher immediately after the shooting.[46] A plane was being held on standby at nearby Bacha Khan International Airport to move her out of Pakistan for further treatment if necessary.[43]

On 11 October 2012, a panel of Pakistani and British doctors made the decision to move Yousafzai to the Armed Forces Institute of Cardiology in Rawalpindi.[46] A medical team treating her at the hospital reported, "neurologically she has significantly improved … coming days … are very critical". Mumtaz Khan, a doctor, said that she had a 70% chance of survival. According to her uncle, Faiz Muhammad, she had not been conscious or responsive since the surgery to remove the bullet and remained on a ventilator.[17] A CT scan indicated that there was still slight swelling in Yousafzai's brain, but her vital organs were intact and functioning normally.[47] Interior Minister Rehman Malik said that Yousafzai would be shifted to Germany, where she could receive the best medical treatment, as soon as she was stable enough to travel. A team of doctors would travel with her, and the government would bear the expenditures of her treatment.[48][49]

On 13 October 2012, doctors reduced Yousafzai's sedation and she moved all four limbs.[50] The following day, there were conflicting reports of where Yousafzai would be treated abroad and the current status of her health. Pakistan’s ambassador to the United Arab Emirates, Jamil Ahmed Khan, said Yousafzai would be treated in Dubai, with a medical jet from the United Arab Emirates on standby to take her abroad, conflicting with the previous report about Germany.[51] With regard to Yousafzai's health, a source in her hospital told Al Jazeera that she remained in critical condition and had slim chances of recovering, adding that the next 12 hours would be the most important.[52] This contradicted other reports that Yousafzai was making "slow and steady progress", and had been taken off the ventilator for a short amount of time.[53] From their assessments, it is difficult to determine whether doctors are referring to her survival or the return of her physical and cognitive abilities.

Offers to treat Yousafzai came from around the world, with several from the United States. One offer came from former US Representative Gabrielle Giffords, who had been through similar treatment after she was shot in the head in 2011. Giffords and her husband, Mark E. Kelly, had gone so far as to line up her neurosurgeon, Dr. Dong Kim, the head of neurosurgery at the Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center, to travel to Pakistan. Another offer came from the American military hospital at Landstuhl Regional Medical Center in Germany, and another from US Senator John Kerry, who has longstanding political ties to Pakistan.[54]

On 15 October, Yousafzai traveled to the United Kingdom for further treatment, approved by both her doctors and family. Her plane landed in Dubai to refuel and then continued to Birmingham where she is being treated at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham, one of the specialities of this hospital being the treatment of military personnel injured in conflict.[55] The decision seemed to make both medical and diplomatic sense. The hospital provided integrated care, and Britain and Pakistan have longstanding ties with a history stretching back to British rule in Pakistan before 1947.[54] Doctors at the hospital reported the next day that Yousafzai is "not out of the woods yet … but at this stage we're optimistic that things are going in the right direction".[56]

Rehabilitation

On 16 October 2012, Dr. David Rosser, the Executive Medical Director of the Hospital and one of the doctors treating Yousafzai, said that initial assessments by members of staff had been conducted, that detailed assessments from other specialists will follow, and that they are pleased with the progress she has made so far.[57] The director of a brain injury program at another hospital reported that since Yousafzai was shot in the left side of the head, she may have weakness on the right side of the body in the future, and have deficits in language abilities. "It's six months to a year before you get a sense of what the long-term damage is", he said.[58]

On 17 October, reports from England said that Yousufzai has come out of her coma, is responding well to treatment and has a good chance of fully recovering without any brain damage.[59]

On October 18, 2012, the BBC reported that Yousufzai has been able to write notes in order to communicate, and, for the first time since the shooting, has been able to stand. However, one of her doctors also noted that "there were still some concerns about her smooth recovery."[60] Later updates on Saturday and Sunday (October 20 and 21) from the Hospital's webpage devoted to updates on her health stated that she was stable, but was still battling an infection (a common but potentially serious side effect as a result of cavitating bullet wounds to the neck and skull which drive bone fragments into tissue). She is resting comfortably after six nights in the hospital, and when she is more stable and rested, will eventually have reconstructive surgery. Other potential milestones, presuming she gets over the infection and has the surgery, will be when the tracheotomy tube is removed and she can breathe and eat and drink unassisted (and begin speech therapy), and can walk without any assistance.[61]

On Friday, October 26, 2012, Malala was able to meet with her parents and the younger of her two brothers, and her father and Dr. Rosser gave briefings to the press, with her father recounting the care she had received in Mingora, Peshawar, Rawalpindi, and Birmingham, saying that when she was put on the plane to Britain, her brain had started to swell dangerously as she was in a medically-induced coma, and they had started to think of the possibility of needing to make funeral arrangements, but that it had lessened during her time in Britain. Dr. Rosser said that the infection had disappeared, that she was able to walk largely unassisted, and that her hearing and vision were being tested to make sure they were undamaged by the bullet's trajectory. In a very positive sign, she retains memories of the last few days of her care in Britain, as well as of events that took place some time before the attack. It is hoped that the tracheostomy (breathing) tube can be removed soon, and that once she gets more rest she can have the reconstructive surgery. Around the time of these announcements, authorities in her native land, Pakistan's Swat Valley, stated that they would rename a government girl's college in her honor, one of her most significant accolades to date.[62][63]

Public reaction

The assassination attempt received immediate worldwide media coverage and produced an outpouring of sympathy, along with widespread anger. Protests against the shooting were held in several Pakistani cities the day after the attack. Pakistani officials offered a $105,000 (10 million rupee) reward for information leading to the arrest of the attackers. Responding to concerns about his safety, Yousafzai's father, Ziauddin, said "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."[49]

World leaders unanimously denounced the attack. United States President Barack Obama found the news of the shooting "reprehensible, disgusting and tragic".[64] Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, speaking at a gathering of the Girl Scouts of the USA, said Yousafzai had been "very brave in standing up for the rights of girls" and that the attackers had been "threatened by that kind of empowerment".[65] United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon called it a "heinous and cowardly act".[66] Pakistan's president described it as an attack on "civilized people".[56]

Every girl in Swat is Malala. We will educate ourselves. We will win. They can't defeat us.

Classmate of Yousafzai ARY Digital[46]

The singer Madonna dedicated her song "Human Nature" to Yousafzai at a concert in Los Angeles the day of the attack.[67] "This made me cry," Madonna said, "The 14-year-old schoolgirl who wrote a blog about going to school. The Taliban stopped her bus and shot her. Do you realize how sick that is?"[17] Angelina Jolie wrote an article about telling the event to her children, and answering questions like "“Why did those men think they needed to kill Malala?”[68] Through the Women in the World Foundation, Jolie and Tina Brown lauched a campaign to raise money for girls' education in Pakistan and Afghanistan.[69] Former First Lady of the United States Laura Bush wrote an op-ed piece in the Washington Post about Malala, comparing her to Anne Frank.[70]

Some minor political parties and extremist groups have aired conspiracy theories like the shooting being staged by CIA in order to provide an excuse for continuing drone attacks[71] while the TTP and some other pro Taliban elements have branded Malala as an "American spy".[72][73][74][75]

United Nations petition

On 15 October 2012, former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, now the United Nations Special Envoy for Global Education, launched a petition in Yousafzai's name and "in support of what Malala fought for".[76] Using the slogan "I am Malala", the petition's main demand is that there be no children left out of school by 2015, with the hope that "girls like Malala everywhere will soon be going to school".[20] Brown said he would hand the petition to President Asif Ali Zardari when he visits Islamabad in November.[76]

The petition contains three demands:[20]

  • We call on Pakistan to agree to a plan to deliver education for every child.
  • We call on all countries to outlaw discrimination against girls.
  • We call on international organizations to ensure the world's 61 million out-of-school children are in education by the end of 2015.

Criminal investigation

Pakistan's Interior Minister Rehman Malik claimed that the Taliban gunman who shot Yousafzai had been identified.[77] The shooter is believed to be named Ataullah.[54] Pakistani police had also claimed to have arrested several suspects.[44]

Malik has suggested the possibility that instead of Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, some other group may have been responsible for the shooting.[71] However, the TTP has accepted responsibility for the attack,[78] and there were reports through an anonymous source that Hakimullah Mehsud, chief of Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan, was intercepted on the phone by government intelligence giving instructions to a subordinate, Nadeem Abbas, to attack media organizations in the country. Offices of organizations in Karachi, Lahore, Rawalpindi, Islamabad, and other cities were at risk, especially organizations and media personalities who denounced the Taliban's attack on Yousafzai. Malik reportedly issued orders to increase security near offices in several cities.[79]

The prosecutor in this case, Arif Khattak, claims that a First Information Report (FIR) was submitted to Saidu Sharif police station in Swat under sections 324 and 34 of Pakistan Penal Code and Section 7 of Anti-Terrorism Act.[80]

Awards and honors

The Dutch international children's advocacy group KidsRights Foundation included Yousafzai as one of five nominees worldwide for the prize, after Desmond Tutu nominated her in October 2011. She was the first Pakistani girl ever nominated for the award. The announcement said "Malala dared to stand up for herself and other girls and used national and international media to let the world know girls should also have the right to go to school".[15] She was the runner-up.[10]
Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani awarded Yousafzai with Pakistan's first National Youth Peace Prize for those under 18 years old — subsequently renamed the National Malala Peace Prize.[5] Speaking to the media after attending the proceedings, Yousafzai expressed her wish to form her own political party comprising people working for the cause of education, saying “my party will operate in all four provinces.” On Yousafzai’s request, the prime minister directed the authorities to set up an IT campus in the Swat Degree College for Women.[81]
  • 3 January 2012, Malala Yousafzai Government Girls Secondary School.
The Government Girls Secondary School on Mission Road, Swat, was renamed in her honor.[6]
  • 13 January 2012, Tribune Gamechanger.
The Express Tribune named Yousafzai in their list of "Gamechangers 2011".[82]
  • 15 October 2012, Pakistan's 3rd highest civilian bravery award.
Pakistan's Interior Minister Malik said that Yousafzai was a symbol of bravery and will be honored with the Sitara-e-Shujaat award.[83]

See also

References

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