Summary:Taliban unrepentant after attack on Pakistani teen
Pakistan -- The Taliban is threatening to finish off a 14-year-old Pakistani girl whom it shot for helping other girls go to school -- if she survives a wounding that has made her a hero to many Pakistanis.
Pakistan teen Malala Yousufzai, shot by Taliban for promoting girl's education, "improving" in hospital
Doctors in Pakistan have managed to pull a bullet from the neck of a 14-year-old girl who was shot by a Taliban gunman Tuesdat October 9th for speaking out in favor of girls' education.
Malala Yousufzai remains in critical condition at a military hospital in Peshawar, however, following the shooting in her hometown of Mingora, in Pakistan's Swat Valley - a former stronghold of the Taliban.
"She is improving. But she is still unconscious," a regional Pakistani official told the Associated Press. "I can't say a final word about her condition. A board of doctors is constantly examining her condition."
A senior Pakistani official later told CBS News that Malala was "semi-conscious," and had shown some level of response to doctors.
Headlines in newspapers across Pakistan denounced the shooting on Wednesday, and politicians jumped on the bandwagon. The chief of the army called the attackers "cowards".
The Taliban came for Malala as she boarded a bus to go home from school. The gunman sought her out and shot her in the head and neck and wounded two other girls.
There is no doubt that Malala was the target. The gunman actually asked for her by name when he boarded the school bus.
Malala lived with the fear of being a Taliban target. That fear was evident in a Jan. 3, 2009, diary entry: "On my way home from school 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."
It seems she was wrong. The Taliban are actually proud of targeting a teenage girl who wants an education. In claiming responsibility for the attack, a Taliban spokesman called Malala, "the symbol of infidels and obscenity".
In fact, Malala is a devout Muslim. She rose to prominence in Pakistan as a symbol of resistance to the Taliban's attempts to curtail education for girls when they took control of the Swat Valley in 2009.
At age eleven she was writing an anonymous blog about life under the Taliban. In one entry entitled "I Am Afraid," she wrote about a terrible dream she had about helicopters and Taliban militants.
Fear is the Taliban's primary weapon, reinforced with a willingness to use extreme violence against anyone who contradicts their medieval rules.
Malala's willingness to speak out earned her a nomination for the International Children's Peace Prize.
The Taliban's efforts to suppress and punish her may well backfire.
"There are people whose voices have been suppressed, are living in fear, but I feel there will be many Malalas in this country," Pakistani women's rights activist Farzana Bari tells CBS News. "I have all the faith."
Today, schoolchildren in Peshawar, where Malala is being treated, made a point of praying for her.
Pakistan's Interior Ministry says Malala will remain in the hospital in Peshawar for another day or two, and then, if necessary, may be flown to the United Arab Emirates or on here to London for further treatment.
Bullet removed from teen activist shot by Taliban
Surgeons in Pakistan have removed a bullet from a 14-year-old girl who was shot by Taliban gunmen because of her outspoken support for the rights of women and girls.
The BBC quotes Malala's father as saying the three-hour operation to remove the bullet from her neck went well.
Two other girls were injured in Tuesday's attack. One remains in critical condition.
Pakistani Army Chief Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani visited Malala in the hospital in Peshawar, the Los Angeles Times reports, and delivered a simple message: "We refuse to bow before terror."
"In attacking Malala, the terrorists have failed to grasp that she is not only an individual, but an icon of courage and hope," the general said.
Mian Iftikhar Hussein, the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa information minister, promised a $100,000 bounty for the capture of the assailants, CNN reports. Police have also taken the van driver and the school guard into custody for questioning.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton condemned the shooting Wednesday, saying it should galvanize support for "brave young women ... who struggle against tradition and culture and even outright hostility, and sometimes violence" to pursue their rights, the Associated Press reports.
The outrage over Malala's shooting, however, hasn't cowed the militants, who say they targeted her because she "promoted secularism," the BBC says.
"If she survives this time, she won't next time," says a spokesman for the Pakistani Taliban, CNN reports. "We will certainly kill her."
Malala has long been an outspoken activist in her city. When she was only 11, she began writing a blog under a pseudonym for the BBC's Urdu service about life under Taliban occupation.
After the Taliban was thrown out of the Swat Valley in the summer of 2009, Malala began speaking out publicly about the militant group and the need for girls' education.
Over 50 ulema issue fatwa against Malala attack
Fatwa says US drone attacks could not be used as an excuse for carrying attacks on Muslim brethren. PHOTO: FAZAL KHALIQ/ FILE
More than 50 ulema and muftis of the Sunni Ittehad Council issued a collective fatwa denouncing the attack on 14-year-old Malala Yousafzai, terming the attack “un-Islamic,” reported Express News on Thursday.
The fatwa declared that the murder of innocent people is tantamount to killing entire humanity.
The fatwa observed that US drone attacks could not be made an excuse for carrying out attacks on Muslim brethren, and added that the US is an enemy of Pakistan and Islam.
The edict further declared that Islam does not forbid women from obtaining education.
Madonna dedicates song to Malala
Madonna told audience the incident made her cry.
Madonna told audience the incident made her cry. PHOTO: AFP / FILE
Pop star Madonna, who has voiced her political and social views through the MDNA tour, most recently took on the Taliban when she dedicated a song to Malala Yousafzai, the 14-year-old who was targeted by the militant group, reports aol.com.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, Madonna told her audience that the incident made her cry.
“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?” she said and shouted: “Support education! Support women!”.
Later, Madonna performed an onstage striptease to reveal “Malala” stenciled across her back and saying “this song is for you, Malala”, she began singing Human Nature.
Malala remains on the ventilator with specialists saying the following 36 to 48 hours were critical for her.
Madonna has previously shown her support for US President Barack Obama and Russian punk band Pussy Riot during performances of the MDNA tour.
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