Malala Yousafzai, Teenage School Activist, Survives Taliban Attack - The New York Times The New York Times Asia Pacific |Taliban Gun Down Girl Who Spoke Up for Rights Search Video Class Dismissed: Malala’s Story A 2009 documentary by Adam B. Ellick profiled Malala Yousafzai, a Pakistani girl whose school was shut down by the Taliban. Ms. Yousafzai was shot by a gunman on Oct. 9, 2012. By Adam B. Ellick and Irfan Ashraf on Publish Date October 9, 2012. . Watch in Times Video » embed KARACHI, Pakistan — At the age of 11, Malala Yousafzai took on the Taliban by giving voice to her dreams. As turbaned fighters swept through her town in northwestern Pakistan in 2009, the tiny schoolgirl spoke out about her passion for education — she wanted to become a doctor, she said — and became a symbol of defiance against Taliban subjugation. On Tuesday, masked Taliban gunmen answered Ms.

Yousafzai’s courage with bullets, singling out the 14-year-old on a bus filled with terrified schoolchildren, then shooting her in the head and neck. Two other girls were also wounded in the attack. All three survived, but late on Tuesday doctors said that Ms. Yousafzai was in critical condition at a hospital in Peshawar, with a bullet possibly lodged close to her brain. A Taliban spokesman, Ehsanullah Ehsan, confirmed by phone that Ms. Yousafzai had been the target, calling her crusade for education rights an “obscenity.” “She has become a symbol of Western culture in the area; she was openly propagating it,” Mr. Ehsan said, adding that if she survived, the militants would certainly try to kill her again. “Let this be a lesson.” Advertisement That Ms. Yousafzai’s voice could be deemed a threat to the Taliban — that they could see a schoolgirl’s death as desirable and justifiable — was seen as evidence of both the militants’ brutality and her courage.

Photo Pakistani soldiers moved Malala Yousafzai to an army hospital in Peshawar after Pakistani Taliban militants attacked her in the Swat Valley last year. Credit Agence France-Presse — Getty Images “She symbolizes the brave girls of Swat ,” said Samar Minallah, a documentary filmmaker who has worked among Pashtun women. “She knew her voice was important, so she spoke up for the rights of children. Even adults didn’t have a vision like hers.” Ms. Yousafzai came to public attention in 2009 as the Pakistani Taliban swept through Swat, a picturesque valley once famed for its music and tolerance and as a honeymoon destination. Her father ran one of the last schools to defy Taliban orders to end female education. As an 11-year-old, Malala — named after a mythic female figure in Pashtun culture — wrote an anonymous blog documenting her experiences for the BBC. Later, she was the focus of documentaries by The New York Times and other media outlets. “I had a terrible dream yesterday with military helicopters and the Taliban,” she wrote in one post titled “I Am Afraid.” The school was eventually forced to close, and Ms.

Yousafzai was forced to flee to Abbottabad, the town where Osama bin Laden was killed last year. Months later, in summer 2009, the Pakistani Army launched a sweeping operation against the Taliban that uprooted an estimated 1.2 million Swat residents. The Taliban were sent packing, or so it seemed, as fighters and their commanders fled into neighboring districts or Afghanistan. An uneasy peace, enforced by a large military presence, settled over the valley. Advertisement Continue reading the main story Ms. Yousafzai grew in prominence, becoming a powerful voice for the rights of children. In 2011, she was nominated for the International Children’s Peace Prize. Later, Yousaf Raza Gilani, the prime minister at the time, awarded her Pakistan’s first National Youth Peace Prize. Photo Malala Yousafzai Credit T. Mughal/European Pressphoto Agency Mature beyond her years, she recently changed her career aspiration to politics, friends said. In recent months, she led a delegation of children’s rights activists, sponsored by Unicef, that made presentations to provincial politicians in Peshawar.

“We found her to be very bold, and it inspired every one of us,” said another student in the group, Fatima Aziz, 15. Ms. Minallah, the documentary maker, said, “She had this vision, big dreams, that she was going to come into politics and bring about change.” That such a figure of wide-eyed optimism and courage could be silenced by Taliban violence was a fresh blow for Pakistan’s beleaguered progressives, who seethed with frustration and anger on Tuesday. “Come on, brothers, be REAL MEN. Kill a school girl,” one media commentator, Nadeem F. Paracha, said in an acerbic Twitter post. In Parliament, Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf urged his countrymen to battle the mind-set behind such attacks. “She is our daughter,” he said. The attack was also a blow for the powerful military, which has long held out its Swat offensive as an example of its ability to conduct successful counterinsurgency operations. The army retains a tight grip over much of Swat. But that Tuesday’s shooting could take place in the center of Mingora, the valley’s largest town, offered evidence that the Taliban were creeping back.

“This is not a good sign,” Kamran Khan, the most senior government official in Swat, said by phone. “It’s very worrisome.” Photo The attack on Malala Yousafzai occurred in Mingora, Swat Valley’s main town, when masked gunmen stopped a bus carrying schoolgirls who had just taken an exam. Credit The New York Times The Swat Taliban are a subgroup of the wider Pakistani Taliban movement based in South Waziristan. Their leader, Maulvi Fazlullah, rose to prominence in 2007 through an FM radio station that espoused Islamist ideology. Advertisement Continue reading the main story After 2009, Maulvi Fazlullah and his senior commanders were pushed across the border into the Afghan provinces of Kunar and Nuristan, where Pakistani officials say they are still being sheltered — a source of growing tension between the Pakistani and Afghan governments. But over the last year or so, small groups of Taliban guerrillas have slowly filtered back into Swat, where they have mounted hit-and-run attacks on community leaders deemed to have collaborated with the government. On Aug.

3, a Taliban gunman shot and wounded Zahid Khan, the president of the local hoteliers association and a senior community leader, in Mingora. It was the third such attack in recent months, a senior official said. The military has asserted control in Swat through a large military presence in the valleys and support for private tribal militias tasked with keeping the Taliban at bay. But soldiers have also been accused of human rights abuses, particularly after a leaked videotape in 2010 showed uniformed men apparently massacring Taliban prisoners. In response to criticism, the army chief, Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, announced an inquiry into the shootings. An army spokesman said it was not yet complete. Shah Rasool, the police chief in Swat, said that all roads leading out of Mingora had been barricaded and that more than 30 militant suspects had been detained. Correction: October 9, 2012 An earlier version of the caption with the picture atop this article misidentified the city where Malala Yousafzai was attacked. It is Mingora, not Peshawar.

Reporting was contributed by Sana ul Haq from Mingora, Pakistan; Ismail Khan from Peshawar, Pakistan; Ihsanullah Tipu Mehsud from Islamabad, Pakistan; and Zia ur-Rehman from Karachi. A version of this article appears in print on October 10, 2012, on Page A1 of the New York edition with the headline: Taliban Gun Down a Girl Who Spoke Up for Rights. Order Reprints | Today's Paper | Subscribe Taliban attack teenage Pakistani girl Malala Yousafzai on her way to school | Daily Mail Online comments Protests spread across Pakistan today in response to the shooting of 14-year-old Malala Yousafzai by a Taliban assassin which left her fighting for life. Surgeons today said they have successfully removed a bullet from the teenager, who was shot in front of her classmates on board her school bus yesterday. Malala was waiting to leave the grounds of her school in Mingora, in Pakistan’s Swat Valley, when a bearded man entered the bus and shot her and another girl.

Scroll down for video Outrage: Activists carry photographs of Malala Yousafzai during a protest rally against her assassination attempt The 14-year-old is widely known and respected for her work to promote the schooling of girls and denouncing the atrocities committed by the Taliban. Fury over the attack has spread across the country, with demonstrators protesting in Lahore, Peshawar, Islamabad and Mingora earlier today. Attacked: Malala Yousafzai was shot on her way home from school Many schools in Swat Valley closed their doors in protest over the shooting, and the country's army chief vowed to fight on against militants as anger erupted across the nation. The Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) have taken responsibility for the assassination attempt and told a Pakistani newspaper they will target her again if she survives. RELATED ARTICLES Share this article Share Malala suffered wounds to her head and neck in the attack yesterday afternoon. The other shot girl is in a stable condition. A man approached the school bus and asked which one of the girls was Malala, Rasool Shah, Mingora police chief said.

Malala was pointed out by a girl near her, but after the young activist lied about her identity the gunman shot both of them. A spokesman for the TTP told Pakistani newspaper The Express Tribune that Malala was shot because she was a ’secular-minded lady’ and that this should serve as a warning for other young people like her. The country's top military officer, General Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, issued a strongly-worded statement condemning the attack. Support: Demonstrators in Mingora hold banners reading 'we want peace on our motherland' and 'attack on Malala Yousafzai is an unsuccessful attempt to destroy peace in the valley' Anger: Banners condemning the attack are held up in Peshawar yesterday United: Women hold banners demanding education rights during a protest in Islamabad The powerful army chief rarely makes such public pronouncements, even when it comes to military matters.

Referring to the 2009 military operation that saved Swat Valley from Taliban control, he said: 'In attacking Malala, the terrorists have failed to grasp that she is not only an individual, but an icon of courage and hope who vindicates the great sacrifices that the people of Swat and the nation gave, for wresting the valley from the scourge of terrorism.' As well as the closure of schools, flags in front of the Mingora government headquarters were at half-mast, and police officers stood guard outside Malala's family's house in case they were also targeted by Taliban assassins. Speaking from an undisclosed location, Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan said that Malala would not be safe if she survives.

Recovering: A 'stable' Malala Yousafzai, is moved to a helicopter to be taken to Peshawar for treatment Wounded: Hospital staff assist Malala Yousafzai as she arrives at Saidu Sharif Teaching Hospital after the attack in the Swat Valley region in northwest Pakistan Help: Crowds gathered around the hospital as news quickly spread about the attempted assassination of the young peace activist Malala was still said to be unconscious after her surgery and she may need to be taken to a foreign hospital for further specialist treatment. But doctors were happy she was out of danger. She won the Pakistani National Youth Peace Prize last year. She and her family have previously been threatened by the Taliban for her campaigns and authorities must now decide how they can protect her from future attack. The failed assassination displayed the viciousness of Islamic militants in Swat Valley, an area which has struggled with militant insurgent influence despite military operations. At one time the picturesque region - nicknamed the Switzerland of Pakistan - was a popular tourist destination for Pakistanis. Honeymooners vacationed along the river. Stable: Malala being transported between hospital wards.

The teenage Pakistani children's rights activist was shot in the head on a school bus in the former Taliban stronghold of Swat Attempt: A Pakistani Taliban organisation have taken responsibility for the shooting which also injured another girl on the bus leaving their school in Mingora Then the Taliban in 2007 began infiltrating the valley, eventually assuming near-total control of the region before being ejected in a massive Pakistani military operation in 2009. A recent court case highlights the issues facing young women in Pakistan after the high court ordered a probe into an alleged barter of seven girls to settle a blood feud in the Dera Bugti district of Baluchistan province. A tribal council of the prominent Bugi tribe ordered the barter in early September, the district deputy commissioner, Saeed Faisal, told the court. The ages of the girls have not been confirmed but local media reported they were between 4 and 13 years old. The tradition of families exchanging unmarried girls to settle feuds is banned under Pakistani law but still practiced in the country's more conservative, tribal areas. Support: Hundreds of people gathered outside the hospital willing to give blood to save Malala Yousafzai VIDEO: Warning!

Graphic images - girl shot in head and neck by Taliban The shooting of Malala Yousafzai has shocked an unshockable Pakistan 10 October 2012 The shooting of Malala Yousafzai has shocked an unshockable Pakistan The 14 year old was shot at close range because "she was speaking against the Taliban". Sign up for our weekly email * Print HTML It takes a lot to shock Pakistan, given the frequency of bomb attacks, targeted killings, and other violence. But the shooting of 14-year-old schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai by the Taliban yesterday has left the nation reeling. Popular talk show host Hamid Mir summed up the mood last night when he said: "I can see the whole nation's head bowed in shame today. I want to ask those who shot a girl, who only wanted to go to school: do you think you are Muslims?" Yousufzai came to public attention for her blog detailing what life was like under the Taliban, who temporarily took control of her native Swat Valley in 2009. She has been on the militant group's "hit list" since the start of the year.

Although her family have said they have received death threats, nothing could have prepared them for the brutality and abruptness of the attack. She was sitting with classmates on a school bus in Mingora, a city in the Swat valley, preparing to drive home after morning classes. According to eyewitnesses, a bearded man entered the bus and demanded that Malala be identified. He shot her at close range in the head and the leg, also injuring two of her classmates. She was rushed to hospital before being taken in a military helicopter to an intensive care ward in Peshawar. The bullet to the head, which missed her brain, had lodged in her neck. It has now been removed but she remains in a critical condition. The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has claimed responsibility for the attack, saying that if she survives, another attempt will be made on her life. “She was pro-west, she was speaking against Taliban, and she was calling President Obama her ideal leader,” spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan told Reuters.

“She was young but she was promoting western culture in Pashtun areas.” In 2009, the government effectively ceded control of the Swat Valley, a beauty spot beloved of Pakistani tourists, to the Taliban. Their takeover saw closures of girls' schools, men being forced to grow beards and the beheading of opponents. Aged just 11, Yousafzai wrote a blog for BBC Urdu under the pen-name of Gul Makai, expressing her anxiety about what was happening around her and her fears that her education would be stopped. After a military offensive in Swat later that clear, the Taliban was largely cleared out of the area. Yousafzai was awarded the country's first National Peace Award, and appeared on national television, carefully sticking to her concerns about education rather than broader criticism of the militants. "I don't mind if I have to sit on the floor at school. All I want is education. And I am afraid of no one,” she told one station. The bravery is quite astonishing, when you consider the fact that major politicians and indeed, entire governments, have shied away from making such bold statements against the Taliban.

The aim of the attempted assassination, of course, was to spread fear and discourage anyone else from speaking out against militancy. Sadly, this has previously proved all too effective in Pakistan. When two ministers calling for reform of the blasphemy law were murdered last year, the government’s response was not to stand tall in the face of violence, but to shelve the reform altogether. Attacks by extremists on the country’s Shia minorities - including some chillingly similar assaults on buses - have gone unpunished and practically unnoted. All of this adds up to a culture where extremists can act with impunity. It is a bold statement in itself that this attack was possible in an area so heavily fortified by the army. Following the military operation in 2009, top command claimed that they had cleared the region of Taliban militants and destroyed their network. Some have seen this attack, along with other recent incidents in the area, as a sign that the Taliban is making a comeback in the area. While that may be jumping the gun, it certainly shows that they are functional. Some fear that it could herald a new spate of killings. Politicians across the board have condemned the attack, with government and opposition united in their prayers for Yousafzai.

Newspapers and broadcast networks have also been unanimous in their condemnation. Nor is revulsion at the incident limited to educated, liberal circles, with Radio Pakistan’s Peshawar studio fielding hundreds of calls from outraged residents of the city. Protests have been held in Peshawar, Multan and Mingora (Malala’s hometown). Another is expected in Lahore. Although some have suggested that this may have been a step too far, the moment that will turn the public decisively against the Taliban, such a view is optimistic. The Taliban, after all, are not in the business of winning over hearts and minds. Has the shooting compounded fear? Yes, certainly. Yousafzai’s father has already expressed anxiety about girls in the area being too afraid to attend school, and there can be no doubt that activists will be even more concerned for their safety than they are already. Will it succeed in silencing Yousafzai and other courageous, educated women speaking out against the tide of militancy? As one brave 14 year old fights for her life, we can only hope that it will not.

1000+ images about Malala Yousafzai on Pinterest | United nations, Inspiring quotes and Malala shot Pinterest • The world’s catalog of ideas Malala Yousafzai Malala, 15, is widely known as a campaigner for girls' education in Pakistan. In early 2009 she wrote an anonymous diary for BBC Urdu about life under the Taliban, who had banned all girls in her area from attending school. She was shot in the head by the Taliban for her beliefs, is recovering, and is to be nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize. 52 Pins136 Followers Like Malala, I Raise My Hand to Support Girls’ Education Because… | Girls' Globe Like Malala, I Raise My Hand to Support Girls’ Education Because… written by Elisabeth Epstein Girls’ Globe blogger Elisabeth Epstein raises her hand for girls’ education. On my 16th birthday, I was excited to get my driver’s license. As the first of my friends to turn 16, I was anxious to drive my friends around independent from my parents. I was happy that my mom no longer had to drive me to school (how embarrassing, right?). I was foolish.

I did not realize how lucky I was to go to school. In 2009, Malala Yousafzai, a 15 year old Pakistani girl, made headlines when BBC published her diary . Malala’s personal accounts of gender inequities and restricted access to education gave the world its first glimpse of life under Taliban law. Two years later, her popularity grew as Desmond Tutu nominated her for the International Children’s Peace Prize and Pakistan’s Prime Minister awarded her with the country’s first National Youth Peace Prize .* Due to her rising popularity and national recognition, the Taliban viewed her as a threat – for how could anyone challenge Taliban law, particularly a young girl? In order to quell Malala’s growing network of supporters, the Taliban took drastic action. I don’t mind if I have to sit on the floor at school. All I want is an education. And I’m afraid of no one. ~ Malala Yousafzai On October 9th, 2012, the Taliban sought to forever silence Malala and shot her in the head and neck. Although initially in critical condition, Malala miraculously survived only to become stronger than ever.

Her story of infallible courage, which has since garnered international attention, has catapulted the fight for universal access to education to new heights. Since the attack, Malala not only has inspired countless education advocates, but she has also launched the Malala Fund , an organization which aims to support the education and empowerment of girls in Pakistan and around the world. Additionally, Malala has been named one of Time Magazine’s 100 Most Influential People as well as nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize – the youngest nominee in Nobel Prize history. On Friday, July 12th – less than one year after her attempted assassination – Malala turns 16 years old. Rather than celebrating her birthday by gallivanting around town with friends in the family car, Malala will be speaking to the United Nations , giving voice to the 66 million girls around the world still unable to go to school. They will not stop me. I will get my education if it is in home, school, or any place. ~ Malala Yousafzai This Friday, now globally known as Malala Day, symbolizes the extraordinary power of courage, of education, of girls.

Image Courtesy of Time Magazine Here are five ways YOU can help: Sign the petition urging the United Nations to fund more global initiatives to ensure the world achieves Millennium Development Goal #2 – universal education for both boys and girls. Use Instagram and Vine! Raise your hand and tell the world why you believe in girls’ right to education. Tag photos with #MalalaDay and #bcimagirl. Explain to your friends on Facebook why Malala Day is so important. Raising awareness is crucial! Join the conversation on Twitter! Use #MalalaDay and #bcimagirl to share your thoughts, opinions, and ideas about Malala and her fight to achieve universal access to education for children around the world. Donate to the Malala Fund and support the advancement of universal access to education around the world. To learn more about Malala’s story, please see the following: Malala Yousafzai gets 10 A* or A GCSEs | Daily Mail Online Share She also achieved As in history, geography, English language and English literature.

Edgbaston high school, where fees are £3,878 per term in the senior school, had a GCSE pass rate of 98.3 per cent, with 28 per cent of pupils achieving nine or more A* grades. Malala previously told the Guardian that she wanted to study arts subjects at A-level, despite previously suggesting she might pursue a career in medicine. Commenting on juggling her busy schedule as a global activist with taking exams, she said: 'I will only miss school for an engagement if it is going to bring real change. 'That is the question I have to ask myself with each request and if the answer is yes, I say, OK, I will sacrifice one day of my school for the education of millions of children who are out of school.' Taliban shooting: Malala was just 14 when she was rushed to hospital following an attempt to assassinate her, after her calls for education for girls angered militants In September the Pakistani military arrested ten men, all part of the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), for the attempted murder of Malala.

Pakistani officials said in April that all 10 men were found guilty of contributing to the 'planning and execution' of the assassination attempt against Malala and received a minimum prison sentence of 25 years. But in June it emerged that only two of the suspects were actually convicted and jailed. 'The trial had absolutely no credibility as nobody was there to witness it but a public prosecutor, a judge, the army and the accused,' the source told the Mirror. 'This was a tactic to get the media pressure away from the Malala case because the whole world wanted convictions for the crime. 'But the truth is that, whether these acquitted men were involved or not in the Malala shooting, the public has been lied to.' The Pakistan High Commission in London said the eight were acquitted because there was 'not adequate evidence', the paper reported. It is thought that the men who actually shot Malala fled to Afghanistan after the attack and evaded capture. Miss Yousafzai was barely 11 years old when she began championing girls' education, speaking out in TV interviews.

String of awards: Malala Yousafzai, receives the Amnesty International Ambassador of Conscience award for 2013 from U2's Bono at a ceremony in the Mansion House, Dublin Huge impact: The 18-year-old has published a book about her epic journey to become one of the world's most recognised campaigners The Taliban had overrun her home town of Mingora, terrorizing residents, threatening to blow up girls' schools, ordering teachers and students into the all-encompassing burqas. Still campaigning, last month Malala called on world leaders to stop 'failing' the people of Syria. The education activist described the situation in Syria as a 'heartbreaking tragedy', while speaking at the opening of a Malala Fund girls' school in neighbouring Lebanon. 'I am here on behalf of the 28 million children who are kept from the classroom because of armed conflict,' she said at the time. 'Their courage and dedication to continue their schooling in difficult conditions inspires people around the world and it is our duty to stand by them. 'On this day, I have a message for the leaders of this country, this region and the world - you are failing the Syrian people, especially Syria's children.

HOW THE TALIBAN ASKED FOR HER BY NAME: THE STORY OF MALALA Malala last year became the youngest ever Nobel Peace Prize winner. Here she is pictured with her prize medal and diploma In January 2008 the Taliban, who controlled the Swat region, declared girls would no longer be allowed to go to school. Acid attacks, abuse and even killing were used as punishment. With her father Ziauddin's backing, Malala Yousafzai kept an online diary and did interviews with journalists to encourage girls to seek education - but it also made her a target. She does not remember being shot on a schoolbus in October 2012 - but her horrified friends recall that the Taliban asked for Malala by name before shooting straight at her head. Everything, from schoolbooks to clothes, were soaked in blood and Malala was near death. She travelled to Britain for treatment but her injuries were so bad that her father asked relatives to start arranging her funeral. However, Malala slowly pulled through after being transferred to an army cardiology hospital with better intensive care. She now lives in Birmingham with her family and started at Edgbaston High School for Girls in March 2013.

She has been invited to a reception for Youth, Education and the Commonwealth, being hosted by the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh, at Buckingham Palace this month. It is thought the Queen herself was impressed by her bravery. It has also led to her last year being named as the world's youngest ever Nobel Peace Prize winner. Hardline cleric Maulana Fazlullah is thought to have ordered the assassination of Malala Read more: Malala Yousafzai Biography -Biography Online About Malala Yousafzai Biography Malala Yousafzai is a Pakistani school pupil and spokesperson for women’s right to education. In retaliation for her high profile campaign for education and criticism of the Taliban, she was shot in the head at close range by a Taliban gunman. She survived the gunshot wound and has become a leading spokesperson for human rights, education and women’s rights. She has received numerous peace awards, and received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014 along with Kailash Satyarthi, an Indian children’s rights activist. Early Life Malala Malala was born (12 July 1997) in Mingora, the Swat District of north west Pakistan to a Sunni Muslim family.

She was named Malala, which means ‘grief stricken’ after a famous female Pashun poet and warrior from Afghanistan. Her father, Ziauddin Yousafzai is a poet, and runs a chain of public schools. He is a leading educational advocate himself. In 2009, she began writing an anonymous blog for the BBC expressing her views on education and life under the threat of the Taliban taking over her valley. It was her father who suggested his own daughter to the BBC. She wrote under the byline “Gul Makai” During this period, the Taliban’s military hold on the area intensified. At times, Malala reported hearing artillery from the advancing Taliban forces. As the Taliban took control of the area they issued edicts banning television, banning music, and banning women from going shopping and limiting women’s education. Many girls schools were blown up and as a consequence pupils stayed at home, scared of possible reprisals from the Taliban. However, for a time, there was a brief respite when the Taliban stated girls could receive primary education, if they wore Burkhas. But, a climate of fear prevailed and Malala and her father began to receive death threats for their outspoken views.

As a consequence, Malala and her father began to fear for their safety. Her father once considered moving Malala outside of Swat to a boarding school, but Malala didn’t want to move. ” I don’t know why, but hearing I was being targeted did not worry me. It seemed to me that everybody knows they will die one day.” I am Malala p.188 When her father suggested they stop their campaigns for human rights, Malala replied “How can we do that? You were the one who said that if we believe in something greater than our lives, then our voices will only multiply ever if we are dead. We can’t disown our campaign!’ I am Malala p.188 People were asking me to speak at events. How could I refuse saying there was a security problem? We couldn’t do that, especially not as proud Pashtuns. My father always said that heroism is in the Pastun DNA. I am Malala p.180 After the BBC blog ended, Malala featured in a documentary made by New York Times reporter Adam B.Ellick. She also received greater international coverage and her identity about writing the BBC blog was revealed.

In 2011, she received Pakistan’s first National Youth Peace Prize and she was nominated by Archbishop Desmond Tutu for the International Children’s Peace Prize. Her increased profile and strident criticism of the Taliban caused Taliban leaders to meet, and in 2012, they voted to kill her. On 9 October, 2012, a masked gunman entered her school bus and asked “Which one of you is Malala? Speak up, otherwise I will shoot at you all.” Malala was identified and she was shot with a single bullet which went through her head, neck and shoulder. Two other girls were also injured, though not as badly as Malala. Malala survived the initial shooting, but was in a critical condition. Her father was convinced she would die and told the village to prepare for her funeral. Her critical organs were failing and she developed an infection. In a coma, she was moved to a hospital in Rwalpindi. Later on the 15 October she was moved to Birmingham in the United Kingdom for further treatment at a specialist hospital for treating military injuries. A couple of days later, she came out of a coma and responded well to treatment.

She was discharged on January 3, 2013 and moved with her family to a temporary home in the West Midlands. Writing in her book “I am Malala” she writes. “It was a miracle I was alive” (p.237) She also writes about her lack of bitterness or desire for revenge. “My only regret was that I hadn’t had a chance to speak to them before they shot me. Now they’d never hear what I had to say. I didn’t even think a single bad thought about the man who shot me – I had no thoughts of revenge – I just wanted to go back to Swat. I wanted to go home” I am Malala p.237 Response to Assassination attempt Her assassination received worldwide condemnation and protests across Pakistan. Over 2 million people signed the Right to Education campaign. The petition helped the ratification of Pakistan’s first right to education bill in Pakistan. Ehsanullah Ehsan, chief spokesman for the Pakistani Taliban, claimed responsibility for the attack, saying that Yousafzai was a symbol of the infidels and obscenity.

However, other Islamic clerics in Pakistan issued a fatwa against the Taliban leaders and said there was no religious justification for shooting a schoolgirl. United Nations petition On 15 October, UN Special Envoy for global education , Gordon Brown , visited Malala whilst she was in hospital and launched a petition in her name – ‘In support for what Malala fought for.’ Using the slogan “I am Malala” the petition contains three demands 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. I am Malala – petition On 12 July 2013, she spoke at the United Nations to a group of 500 youths calling for worldwide access to education. “I am not against anyone, neither am I here to speak in terms of personal revenge against the Taliban or any other terrorist group. I’m here to speak up for the right of education for every child.

I want education for the sons and daughters of the Taliban and all terrorists and extremists.” ( BBC Link of speech ) Her global fame and admiration in the West has caused something of a backlash in Pakistan. Many in Pakistan fear the West’s support of Malala is hypocritical given the US drone strikes on Pakistan and Afghanistan. Also, her plight highlights the unchecked militancy of the Taliban, which is a problem for Pakistan. Some in Pakistan fear Malala is promoting a Western agenda. However, on her part, Malala is dismayed by conspiracy theories in her own country and is keen to portray her native Pakistan in a good light. Her BBC blog expresses such a sentiment. …I immediately saw images of Pakistanis fill my screen. Not the usual rock hurling Pakistanis, irrationally shouting amidst flaming tyres, but gentle candle-lighting, beautiful Pakistanis with words of love and peace on their lips. It was UN International day of the Girl Child and the BBC chose to illustrate this with a story of what they termed a National Awakening in Pakistan, following the shooting of 14-year-old school girl, Malala Yousafzai.

I was delighted at the apparent 24 hour flip from a narrative of “those Pakistanis are so barbaric they shoot their own school girls” to one of hope, resilience, and a more accurate reflection of the millions who reject such an act. ( 5 February, 2013 ) Further Quotes by Malala “Today we all know education is our basic right. Not just in the West; Islam too has given us this right. Islam says every girl and everybody should go to school. In the Quran it is written, God wants us to have knowledge.” I am Malala p.263 “One child, one teacher, one pen and one book can change the world. Education is the only solution. Education first.” – UN Speech, July 12, 2013 “I love my God. I thank my Allah. I talk to him all day. He is the greatest. By giving me this height to reach people, he has also given me great responsibilities. Peace in every home, every street, every village, every country – this is my dream. Education for every boy and every girl in the world.

To sit down on a chair and read my books with all my friends at school is my right right. To see each and every human being with a smile of happiness is my wish. I am Malala p 265 “I am Malala, My world has changed by I have not.” p.265 In October, 2014, the Nobel committee awarded Malala the Nobel Peace Prize, the said: “Despite her youth, Malala Yousafzai has already fought for several years for the right of girls to education, and has shown by example that children and young people, too, can contribute to improving their own situations. “This she has done under the most dangerous circumstances. Through her heroic struggle she has become a leading spokesperson for girls’ rights to education.” Citation: Pettinger, Tejvan .

(G+) “Biography of Malala “, Oxford, 18/10/2013 Further Reading The 72 Hours That Saved Malala: Doctors Reveal for the First Time How Close She Came to Death - Yahoo The 72 Hours That Saved Malala: Doctors Reveal for the First Time How Close She Came to Death By NICK SCHIFRIN October 7, 2013 11:35 AM . View photo The 72 Hours That Saved Malala: Doctors Reveal for the First Time How Close She Came to Death (ABC News) Malala Yousafzai survived a Taliban bullet that shattered her skull's thinnest bone, driving fragments into her brain. But one day later, as she lay in a medically induced coma in a Peshawar, Pakistan, hospital, her condition suddenly deteriorated, and her doctors did not know whether she would live or die. The 15-year-old would survive to become a global icon of courage and an international ambassador for girls' education.

That part of her remarkable story is widely known, but what hasn't been told before is how close she came to dying in the hospital and how a team of doctors and the most powerful man in Pakistan made sure that did not happen. In exclusive interviews for ABC News and the BBC News on the one-year anniversary of her shooting, Malala's doctors reveal for the first time how she developed a serious infection and suffered from organ failure in the hospital, in part because of inadequate care. They also reveal tense moments leading up to her first, crucial surgery, and how Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, the chief of army staff, was personally involved in overseeing the Pakistani army's essential role in saving her life. And they reveal that at the center of this life-and-death drama were two previously unknown doctors from Birmingham, England, without whose intervention Malala might have died on a hospital bed in Peshawar. Tuesday: 'He's a Hero' On the morning of Tuesday, Oct. 9, 2012, Malala boarded her schoolbus in the northwest Pakistani district of Swat. The gunman had no doubt whom he was looking for. He asked for Malala by name, then pointed a Colt 45 and fired three shots.

One bullet hit the left side of Malala's forehead, traveled under her skin the length of her face and then into her shoulder. The news quickly filtered south 200 miles to General Headquarters, Pakistan's equivalent of the Pentagon. Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, who had met Malala during previous visits to Swat, immediately realized this was not just another attack in a district where the Taliban still held considerable power. "He recognized that she was a symbol," says Dr. Javid Kayani, an intensive care surgeon and deputy medical director of University Hospitals Birmingham, who happened to be in Islamabad for a meeting with the army chief that day. "He knew that if her life had been extinguished, then that would be a victory to the forces of darkness." The army chief ordered a military helicopter to evacuate Malala to a military hospital in Peshawar, the regional capital. That order alone was unusual: Hundreds of civilians had been targeted for assassination by the Taliban, and few if any had been transported via military helicopter. In the hospital, army neurosurgeon Col. Junaid Khan told ABC/BBC News that Malala was conscious but "restless and agitated." She seemed stable, and Khan kept a close eye on her.

Four hours later, though, her condition deteriorated. Khan realized the bullet had caused Yousafzai's brain to swell and that she needed emergency surgery to remove a portion of her skull to relieve the pressure. But Khan had to fight for permission. According to Drs. Javid Kayani and Fiona Reynolds, a pediatric intensive care consultant from Birmingham, who was also in Islamabad that day, Yousafzai's family did not trust Khan because he looked so young. Malala's father, Ziauddin Yousafzai, wanted a civilian doctor to see her. There was also a push to evacuate her immediately to Dubai. But by late evening, Khan told Malala's father there was no choice: Khan had to perform the surgery to relieve the pressure on her brain. The risks were high. "The part of the brain that was involved was concerned not only with speech, not only the speech centers but also those centers which are involved in controlling or giving power to the right arm and right leg," Khan said in an interview. "So contemplating surgery in this very sensitive area can have risks in terms of ...

losing the speech or losing the power in the opposite part of the body, meaning the person can be paralyzed afterward." Khan pushed Malala's father for permission. "There are risks," Khan said, "but if you foresee that this patient warrants an operation and if you don't do an operation, she will lose her life, then you're going to take all the chances." The craniotomy began after midnight. Khan and his team removed a portion of her skull, removed blood clots on her brain and put Malala on a ventilator. To this day, Reynolds and Kayani say that without Khan fighting to perform that surgery, Malala would not be here. "That first surgery saved her life. Junaid operated when the world was looking at him," Reynolds told ABC/BBC News. "Surgery's about choosing the right time to do the right operation, and Junaid did that and he did the operation and I've got no doubt that he saved her life. He's a hero." As Kayani put it in an interview: "Malala is alive today, and two people can claim credit for that: One is the surgeon who operated on her in the early hours of Wednesday morning, and the other is the chief of army staff.

If he had not been personally involved, Malala would not have survived beyond Swat." The surgery saved her life, but she was not out of the woods. And that is where Kayani and Reynolds' portion of the story begins. Wednesday: 'The quality of the care may actually cause her not to survive' As the sun broke through on Wednesday morning, Kayani and Reynolds woke up in Islamabad on a prearranged visit to help the Pakistani military set up a liver transplant program. They met with the army chief just hours after Malala's initial surgery. As they spoke in his office, two very large TV screens showed news footage of the young Pakistani girl -- whom Reynolds had never heard of. The meeting ended without any mention of Malala, and Reynolds was about to go shopping. But that's when -- at Dr. Kayani's urging -- the military asked for their help, changing both of their lives forever. "Gen. Kayani had been given conflicting stories about her condition, and he wasn't sure about what to do next and whether he should move her and where he should move her to," Reynolds said in an interview.

"They just wanted to know what I thought as a sort of expert from outside the country and someone who deals with children with head injuries all the time." Reynolds was told there was some risk in flying to Peshawar, but Reynolds didn't hesitate: "[Malala had] been shot because she wanted an education, and I was in Pakistan because I'm a woman with an education. So I couldn't say no." Twenty-four hours after Malala was shot, Kayani and Reynolds flew to Peshawar on a military helicopter to evaluate the situation and meet Khan. Both praised his decision to operate, but Reynolds was shocked at the hospital's facilities. The intensive care unit had one sink, which didn't work. The doctors were measuring Malala's blood pressure with a cuff every few hours rather than with an arterial line, which measures the pressure every few seconds. Reynolds worried that the lack of modern facilities were putting Malala's life -- and her ability to recover -- in jeopardy.

"They had absolutely done the right surgery at the right time and had done it well," she said, "but there was also the possibility that the quality of the intensive care may actually cause her not to survive." The visit ran into the afternoon, and Reynolds was running out of time. She needed to decide on a course of action before the sun set. Pakistani military helicopters do not fly at night, and she was not allowed to spend the night in Peshawar. As she left, Reynolds urged Malala's doctors to change the ventilator settings to raise her carbon dioxide and increase blood flow to the brain. But more important was to get Malala out of there, fast. Kayani and Reynolds flew back to Rawalpindi and met with Pakistan's surgeon general. Reynolds urged him to bring Malala to the state-of-the-art hospital in Rawalpindi. Her life was "absolutely" in danger, Reynolds told the surgeon general, "and so was the quality of her recovery. ... The swelling that the bullet caused was very close and it would have been quite easy for her to have ended up looking like someone who'd had a stroke." But the doctors in Peshawar refused, believing her condition too fragile.

So Reynolds and Kayani urged the surgeon general to dispatch his best doctors from Rawalpindi to Peshawar. Just before midnight, he agreed. The head of Rawalpindi's intensive care unit and another doctor drove the two hours to Peshawar to look after Malala for the night. It was yet another decision that saved her life. "The military asked, can we wait until morning?" Kayani remembers. "We said no." Thursday: 'There Is Hope' The doctors' fears proved true. Malala's condition had rapidly deteriorated. Reynolds recites the long list of ailments Malala was suffering from: She had a serious infection, her blood was not clotting properly, her blood acid had gone up, her blood pressure was unstable, her heart and circulation were failing, her kidneys had shut down and the doctors believed she had gone septic. The doctors sent from Rawalpindi had prevented her from dying. But that's all they could do in Peshawar, and Malala was in bad shape. "She'd now gone from being a patient with a head injury to a patient who had systemic problems, probably with infection, and her organs were shutting down," Reynolds said.

Kayani and Reynolds canceled their return home to Birmingham. Instead, they once again flew to Peshawar, this time in a helicopter with a mobile intensive care unit on board. While Malala remained sedated, the team transported her back to Rawalpindi. Armed soldiers escorted its convoy to the hospital. By this time, Malala had undergone a blood transfusion, developed an infection and was "physiologically very unstable," Reynolds said. "For the first six hours I was terribly worried about her." Over the next 24 hours, the team changed the antibiotics, stabilized her blood pressure, averted any need for dialysis and got her off a large dose of adrenaline. "In my head she went back to being a patient with a head injury who had got over an infection, and at that point I thought she was probably going to survive," Reynolds said. On the day Malala was moved, her father, Ziauddin, asked Reynolds what would happen. "He asked me if there was any hope. And my response to that was, the only reason I'm here is because there is some hope. And he got quite emotional at that point," Reynolds told ABC's Diane Sawyer.

"I told him, 'I think she's going to make it,' and he kissed my hand, which I think is quite unusual for a Pakistani man." The next day, on Friday afternoon, she remembers, "I was convinced she was going to survive, and I shared that with her father. And he cried." Friday: Birmingham By Friday, Malala Yousafzai's name was on every major news program across the world. The Taliban claimed credit for attacking her and promised to finish the job. The military surrounded the hospital with soldiers. Snipers were posted on the roof. "The military realized they couldn't afford an attack," Kayani told ABC News. "So the hospital literally went into lockdown." Security fears helped push along a conversation that was sensitive in Pakistan: whether to send Malala abroad for treatment and recovery. The army and Malala's doctors knew that while she could receive good emergency care in Rawalpindi, she could not receive the rehabilitative treatment she would need anywhere in Pakistan. Offers poured in from the United States, the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates and other countries, offering admittance to specialized hospitals where Malala could not only be cared for but could also begin the slow process of retraining her damaged brain.

But the army was worried about the politics, according to the doctors. Already, some Pakistanis called the story a "drama," code for fictionalized. Some claimed Malala and her father were CIA spies, and the near-death experience had been cooked up by the United States in order to get the Pakistani military to expand its offensives along the Afghan border. The army turned down the U.S. offers, according to Kayani, because "if she had gone to the states, conspiracy theorists would have been quote 'proven.' The army chief did not want that spin. If he could exclusively prove that the Taliban engineered the attack, he might get the specific wave of revulsion he was looking for to help prepare a public campaign against the Taliban." That campaign never took place. But the army and her doctors quickly came to a consensus: The best destination was Birmingham. The hospital where Kayani worked, the Queen Elizabeth Medical Center, was a worldwide leader in emergency and rehabilitative care -- the United Kingdom's equivalent of Water Reed National Medical Center -- where every British soldier injured in Iraq and Afghanistan receives care.

And both Kayani and Reynolds lived in Birmingham and could help oversee Malala's recovery if she were brain damaged, or lost the ability to walk or use her right hand or leg. "Everything she would need," Reynolds told Malala's parents, "would be available in Birmingham." Kayani worked behind the scenes with the hospital and the U.K. High Commission in Islamabad. Diplomats cut through the red tape and secured both Pakistani and British government permission to send her to Birmingham. There was only one hitch: Malala's whole family would not be able travel with her. Ziauddin, her father, could come, but he did not want to leave his wife and sons. So Malala had to fly alone. Her father approached Reynolds and asked an extraordinary favor. Once she arrived in the United Kingdom, Malala would be under the care of the Pakistani high commissioner. But between Pakistan and the U.K., she needed someone else in charge. Ziauddin Yousafzai asked Reynolds to become Malala's guardian. "He just said, look after her," Reynolds remembers. To this day, she feels as though she is looking after Malala. The flight to Birmingham left Monday.

When Ziauddin finally arrived in Birmingham, 11 days after Malala, he held a news conference in which he acknowledged how close he had come to losing his only daughter. He said he had drafted funeral plans. He called her survival a "miracle." "My daughter is my companion. I love her. There were tears in our eyes when we first saw her. But it was tears of happiness," he told a group of reporters, many of whom were crying with him as he shared his story. He called the man who shot her "an agent of Satan." But she survived, he concluded, because "I found angels on my side." Postscript: 'The Bravest Girl on the Planet' Both Kayani and Reynolds have stayed in touch with Malala and her family over the past year and helped with her recovery. Reynolds told ABC News: "I think she will make an absolutely complete physical recovery." Kayani, like so many, is awed by what Malala is capable of. "She certainly has got more courage than a lot of men that I know," he told ABC News. "She certainly has got more courage than I have got.

I don't think it's hubris to say that she is probably one of the bravest girls on the planet." Health

Question: The attempted assassination of 15 year old Malala Yousafzai by the Taliban, in response to her championing the right of girls to education, took place in what (her home) country?
Answer: Pakistan