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Islamabad: Millions of
people prayed for the early recovery of child peace campaigner Malala Yousafzai, who a leading Pakistani daily said was "fighting
the most arduous battle of her life" after the Taliban shot at
her.
"With millions of people praying for her life and early recovery,
the way she was living in the once militants infested Swat valley
without any proper security measures speaks of how we treat our
heroes," said an article in the Dawn Wednesday, a day after Malala
was shot at when she was on her way home from school.
Describing her as "the progressive face of Pakistan in general and
Swat valley in particular", it said that she is today "fighting
the most arduous battle of her life".
The 14-year-old girl, Pakistan's first National Peace Award
winner, was shot and seriously injured by gunmen in the country's
Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province Tuesday. The Taliban has accepted
responsibility.
An attacker wearing a police uniform stopped the school bus and
opened fire at her. In the attack, the girl was seriously wounded,
while two other girls incurred slight injuries.
The article pointed out that though government functionaries,
including the prime minister, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa governor, chief
minister, federal ministers and others started condemnation of
attack on her life by militants, "none of them would accept the
lapse on their part".
"Why she was not provided security by the government despite the
fact that she had assumed international fame because of her
outspoken criticism of militants, especially their approach
towards female education?" it asked.
It demanded that the security forces, who have been administering
Swat valley since an operation in 2009, "also need to clarify
their position".
"The moot question is when security could be provided to the
ruling elite...then why Malala was left at the mercy of militants.
Returning from school without any security guard, she was a soft
target for those who wanted to eliminate her because of her
thinking," it added.
It went on to say that the Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan has once
again "proved that militants can go to any extent against those,
who don't share their ideology".
"In the past, they have killed women; pulled out bodies from
graves; bombed mosques, schools, funeral prayers and jirgas;
beheaded people and displayed their severed heads in public
places," it added.
Lauding Malala, the article said that her meteoric rise to fame
was not because of sheer luck rather "it was because of her
struggle and her candid views regarding what had happened in Swat
valley and how Taliban had inflicted damage on the education
sector by blowing up dozens of schools".
Malala is in the ICU and "millions of people not only in Pakistan
but in other parts of the world are praying for her".
"Hope the prayers of these millions of people would bear fruit and
this brave girl would once again be present among her people and
striving for the message which she has been preaching for the last
over three years," it added.
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