Attack on Pakistani schoolgirl galvanizes anti-Taliban feeling
October 16, 2012 -- Updated 1231 GMT (2031 HKT)
Pakistani activists take part in a protest against the Taliban in Islamabad on October 14, 2012.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Meanwhile, police in Birmingham said "two well-wishers" were stopped when they came to the hospital overnight wanting to see the girl. No arrests were made, contrary to earlier reports from the hospital.
October 16, 2012 -- Updated 1231 GMT (2031 HKT)
Pakistani activists take part in a protest against the Taliban in Islamabad on October 14, 2012.
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
· NEW: "We don't want the Taliban anymore in Pakistan," says a supporter of Malala Yousufzai
· The 14-year-old is hospitalized in England a week after the Taliban attack on her
· Analysts say her shooting has prompted sympathy, disgust and anger among many Pakistanis
· Malala's family is not in England, but Pakistan is arranging for that, hospital official says
(CNN) -- A week ago today, a Pakistani schoolgirl who dared to speak out against the Taliban took a bullet to the head for her act of defiance.
Now, as Malala Yousufzai lies in a hospital bed in Birmingham, England, the shock and outrage among her countrymen have given way to a new sentiment: What will the government do about this?
While the Pakistani news media debate how the country should respond to the attack, thousands of people nationwide have joined in rallies in support of the wounded 14-year-old.
Meanwhile, police in Birmingham said "two well-wishers" were stopped when they came to the hospital overnight wanting to see the girl. No arrests were made, contrary to earlier reports from the hospital.
Hospital director Dave Rosser said the intruders were "probably people being over-curious," but he added that the hospital is taking no chances and that tight security is in place.
Thousands rally for Malala
Back in the schoolgirl activist's homeland, the shooting has prompted an unusually strong and united reaction of disgust and anger among many Pakistanis, analysts said.
"There is a groundswell of sympathy for her and also a very strong demand for the Pakistani state to do something about this issue," said Raza Rumi, director of policy and programs at the Jinnah Institute, a Pakistani research organization.
Much of the discontent is directed toward the Pakistani Taliban, the extremist group that has claimed responsibility for the shooting and said it will seek to kill Malala if she recovers from her injuries.
"This has created a very bad feeling for the Taliban," said Saleem Khan, an executive with a paper manufacturing company in the city of Lahore.
Khan said he was "crying and weeping" after hearing of the attack on Malala, who had defied extremists in the northwestern Swat Valley by insisting on the right of girls to go to school.
At a rally organized by the powerful MQM political party in Karachi, thousands of people gathered, some waving flags and banners with messages of support for Malala. "Our prayers are with you," read one. Another said, "Malala -- (an) attack on you is an attack on education and progress."
Social activist Saman Jafery told CNN: "If Taliban is a mindset, then Malala is a mindset too. It's a mindset of educated and empowered women."
Another of those at the rally, Haider Rizvi, said people "don't want the Taliban anymore in Pakistan and after the Malala incident it is time for people to stand up."
"The message is right here ... all these people. They are condemning the act of the Taliban," added student Ashwar Waqi.
The Taliban, which operate in northwestern Pakistan along the border with Afghanistan, has fallen foul of Pakistani public opinion in the past, notably in 2009, when a video emerged of the flogging of a teenage girl in the Swat Valley.
The video provoked appalled reactions in Pakistan at the time, but "the scale of protests for Malala are bigger," Rumi said. "Even the right-wing mainstream media have expressed outrage."
The Taliban became increasingly unpopular among Pakistanis in 2009 as the military carried out an offensive against members of the group in northwestern areas.
But the military operations failed to root them out altogether, and their continued influence in the region was demonstrated last week by the gun attack on Malala and two other girls as they were being driven home from school. The two other girls were less severely wounded than Malala.
Politicians and commentators in Pakistan slammed the attack. But the condemnation of the Taliban has not been as universal.
"Everybody was angry that it happened, but not everybody was angry with the Taliban," said Tazeen Javed, an Islamabad-based communications consultant who writes for The Express Tribune newspaper.
The cricket star-turned-politician Imran Khan, who visited Malala in a hospital in Peshawar last week, has drawn criticism for not condemning the Taliban outright over the attack.
Khan "showed a lot of concern but couldn't resist bringing in the issue of the drone strikes as a cause for this attack, which was a bit of a deflection," said Rumi, referring to the drone attacks carried out by the United States in northwestern Pakistan that have generated resentment in the country.
Certain commentators have also begun to question the official version of events, suggesting that the attack on Malala may be used as a pretext by the government for military action against the Taliban in the restive tribal region of North Waziristan.
Some are even raising the idea of American involvement in the attack.
"The Malala incident is the CIA's latest attempt to divide public opinion and incite conflict in Pakistani society," Haider Mehdi, a contributor to the Pakistani daily The Nation, wrote in a column Tuesday.
As the controversy about the attack rages on in Pakistan, the doctors treating Malala thousands of miles away say they are "very pleased" with her progress and that they are optimistic she may make a good recovery.
However, she faces reconstructive surgery and there is "still a long way to go," said Rosser, of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham.
Her family is not yet in England to be by her bedside, but the Pakistani high commissioner is making arrangements on that front, he said.
In the meantime, the 14-year-old appears to be "every bit as strong as we had been led to believe," Rosser said, adding that the consultant leading her care "is impressed by her resilience and her strength."
CNN's Reza Sayah and Laura Smith-Spark contributed to this report.
Malala Yousafzai transferred to UK for medical treatment
UK doctors say Malala has every chance of making “good recovery”
Police officers patrol outside the emergency entrance of the Queen Elizabeth Hospital where injured Pakistani teenager Malala Yousufzai arrived for treatment in Birmingham, central England on October 15, 2012. – Photo by Reuters
BIRMINGHAM: 14-year-old Malala Yousafzai, who was shot in the head by the Taliban has every chance of making a “good recovery”, British doctors said on Monday as the Pakistani school girl arrived at a hospital in central England for treatment of her severe wounds.
Malala, who was shot for advocating education for girls, was flown from Pakistan to receive specialist treatment at Birmingham’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital at a unit expert in dealing with complex trauma cases that has treated hundreds of soldiers wounded in Afghanistan.
“Doctors…believe she has a chance of making a good recovery on every level,” said Dr Dave Rosser, the hospital’s medical director, adding that her treatment and rehabilitation could take months.
He told reporters that Malala, whose shooting has drawn widespread condemnation, had not yet been assessed by British medics but said she would not have been brought to Britain at all if her prognosis was not good.
TV footage showed a patient, believed to be the schoolgirl, being rushed from an ambulance into the hospital surrounded by a large team of medical staff.
She will now undergo scans to reveal the extent of her injuries, but Rosser said they could not provide any further details without her agreement.
Pakistani surgeons removed a bullet from near her spinal cord during a three-hour operation the day after the attack last week, but she now needs intensive specialist follow-up care.
They have said Malala needs treatment for a damaged skull and “intensive neuro-rehabilitation.”
British Foreign Secretary William Hague said the “barbaric” attack on Malala had “shocked Pakistan and the world.” “Malala will now receive specialist medical care in an NHS (National Health Service) hospital,” he said.
“The public revulsion and condemnation of this cowardly attack shows that the people of Pakistan will not be beaten by terrorists.” Security concerns meant Malala’s departure after daybreak from Islamabad Airport – in an air ambulance provided by the United Arab Emirates – was not announced until the plane was airborne.
Malala, who had been treated in a Pakistani military hospital, was accompanied on the plane by an intensive care specialist.
Asked if Malala will be guarded at the Birmingham hospital, Cameron’s spokeswoman said: “You wouldn’t expect me to talk about security matters in detail but certainly security has been taken into account.”
The shooting has been denounced worldwide and by Pakistan, which has said it will do everything possible to ensure Malala recovers and will meet all the costs of her treatment.
The cold-blooded murder attempt has sickened Pakistan, where Malala came to prominence with a blog for the BBC highlighting atrocities under the hardline Islamist Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), who terrorised the Swat valley from 2007 until an army offensive in 2009.
Activists say the shooting should be a wake-up call to those who advocate appeasement with the Taliban, but analysts suspect there will be no significant change in a country that has sponsored radical Islam for decades.
On Sunday, around 10,000 people gathered in Karachi for a rally in support of Malala, organised by the Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM).
But right-wing and conservative religious leaders have refrained from publicly denouncing the Taliban. They have warned the government against using the attack on Malala as a pretext for an offensive in the militant bastion of North Waziristan.
The United States has long called on Pakistan to wage an operation in the district, considered the leadership base of the Haqqani network – blamed for some of the deadliest attacks in Afghanistan – as well as a Taliban stronghold.
Malala was first airlifted from Swat to a military hospital in the northwestern city of Peshawar, then to the country’s top military hospital in Rawalpindi, where doctors on Sunday took her off a ventilator for a “successful” short trial.
The army said a panel of Pakistani doctors and international experts agreed Malala needed “prolonged care to fully recover from the physical and psychological effects of trauma that she has received.”
It is also expected that damaged bones in her skull will need to be repaired, and that she will need “long-term rehabilitation, including intensive neuro-rehabilitation.”
Schools and mosques across Pakistan have held special prayers for Malala.
Pakistan has offered more than $100,000 for the capture of her attackers.
A senior police official told AFP that investigators have questioned dozens of suspects, but that the hunt for the main culprits was continuing.
Ahmad Shah, police station chief in the town of Mingora where Malala was shot, has said nearly 200 people were detained including the bus driver and a school watchman, but most have been released.
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