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Islamabad/London: Kainat and Shazia, friends and fellow students of Pakistani
teenaged rights activist Malala Yousafzai, who were also injured
in the recent Taliban attack on her, have vowed to defy the
militants and continue their studies.
Undeterred by the attack earlier in the week, Kainat told Geo News
she wants to become a doctor to serve the country.
The 14-year-old Malala and her two friends were shot at in Khyber
Pakhtunkhwa province while they were returning home from school.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the shooting that sparked
outrage across the world.
Kainat told Geo News a militant opened fire after identifying
Malala, and that she fell unconscious as she saw Malala in a pool
of blood.
Shazia Ramzan, also 14, watched in horror as Malala was shot
beside her on their school bus, before the gunman turned and shot
her too, in the shoulder and hand.
"She (Malala) will recover and we will go back to school and study
together again," Shazia told the Daily Mail.
Malala, from the age of 11, has been defying the Taliban by
writing a blog for the BBC championing education for girls.
In a hospital in Peshawar, Shazia - who was hit by two bullets -
said Malala told classmates she might be a target but refused to
hide from the Taliban.
"Malala told us she had been threatened by the extremists. She
said she had been speaking too much against mujahideen (Taliban)
and they might do something to her," Shazia said.
Describing the attack, she said: "It was just a normal school day.
We were coming home after our second-term exams."
"The bus was taking the usual route. Then it suddenly stopped and
two men confronted us. They asked, 'Which one of you is Malala?'
Some of the girls started to talk and then one of the men opened
fire. All the girls started crying and shouting."
"Malala was hit in the head and fell to the floor unconscious.
There was blood everywhere. I was in total shock," Shazia said.
"Then the man with the gun fired at me and another girl and ran
away. We were all just so traumatised and shocked. Everything
happened so quickly."
"The bus driver raced us to hospital. It was chaotic because
everyone was screaming and crying and Malala was lying on the
floor in front of me," the Daily Mail quoted Shazia as saying.
Shazia said Malala would talk to them "about the dangers she was
facing but refused to change the way she lived".
"She just said the extremists might do something to her because
she had spoken out against them so much and they might want to
harm her. She knew something might happen but she never let it
affect her. She refused to be anything other than a normal
schoolgirl," she said.
Shazia said she was disgusted with the men who carried out the
attack.
"We don't know who they were but I am sure they were the people
Malala had been warned about," she said.
Shazia said her greatest wish was to return to school with Malala,
even though the Taliban has threatened to return and kill Malala.
"With the grace of God, I am completely all right now. Malala will
recover soon too, I hope. We will go back to school and study
together again," she said.
"I am praying for Malala and praying she can join her school
friends again as soon as possible. The whole nation is praying for
her and I am sure she will make a full recovery," she added.
Shazia's 50-year-old father Muhammad Ramzan, who runs a bakery in
Mingora, said he was horrified by the attack.
"We have never been enemies with anyone. I don't know who did
this. Malala was outspoken and she had told her classmates
something like this could happen but we never imagined it would
happen in this way," Ramzan told the daily.
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