Venom from Taleban as UK doctors tend defiant teen shot in the head

By RAJU GOPALAKRISHNAN
Published on 17/10/2012 00:39

TALEBAN insurgents have said the Pakistani schoolgirl its gunmen shot in the head deserved to die because she had spoken out against the group and praised US president Barack Obama.

Malala Yousufzai, 14, was flown to the UK on Monday, and doctors at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham said yesterday she has every chance of making a “good recovery”.

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 specialist care.

The teenager was shot with two classmates as they made their way home from school in Swat, in the north west of Pakistan, on 9 October. Authorities have said they have made several arrests in connection with the case but have given no details.

Pakistan’s Taleban yesterday described Malala as a “spy of the West”.

“For this espionage, infidels gave her awards and rewards. And Islam orders killing of those who are spying for enemies,” the group said in a statement.

“She used to propagate against mujahideen [holy warriors] to defame [the] Taleban. The Koran says that people propagating against Islam and Islamic forces would be killed.

“We targeted her because she would speak against the Taleban while sitting with shameless strangers and idealised the biggest enemy of Islam, Barack Obama.”

Malala, who had wanted to become a doctor before agreeing to her father’s wishes that she strive to be a politician, has become a potent symbol of resistance against the Taleban’s efforts to deprive girls of an education.

Pakistanis have held protests and candlelit vigils but most government officials have refrained from publicly criticising the Taleban by name over the attack, in what critics say is a lack of resolve against extremism.

“We did not attack her for raising voice for education. We targeted her for opposing mujahideen and their war,” said the Taleban.

“Shariah [Islamic law] says that even a child can be killed if he is propagating against Islam.”

Dr David Rosser, medical
director of Queen Elizabeth Hospital, said yesterday surgeons were going over the procedures Malala will need as part of her “prolonged care” on the road to physical and psychological
recovery.

“Malala will need reconstructive surgery, and we have international experts in that field, so [we’re] beginning to plan for reconstructive surgery,” he said.

Secretary general of the Muslim Council of Britain, Farooq Murad, said the arrival of Malala in the UK has put her even more in the thoughts of the Muslim community.

He added: “The horrific attack is to be condemned, and has rightly been done so by Pakistan’s responsible political and religious leaders. You don’t see such a unified response every day in a nation in turmoil from violence and external aggression on its borders and internally.”