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Subscribe to RSSAs doctors debated whether to send Malala Yousafzai abroad for care, thousands rallied in her name, including hundreds of schoolgirls who gathered in Afghanistan. NBC's Amna Nawaz reports.
KARACHI, Pakistan -- Tens of thousands rallied in Pakistan's largest city Sunday in support of a 14-year-old girl who was shot and critically wounded by the Taliban for promoting girls' education and criticizing the militant group.
The demonstration in the southern city of Karachi was by far the largest since Malala Yousufzai and two of her classmates were shot on Oct. 9 while returning home from school in Pakistan's northwest.
The attack horrified people inside and outside Pakistan and sparked hope among some that it would prompt the government to intensify its fight against the Taliban and their allies.
But protests against the shooting have been relatively small until now, usually attracting no more than a few hundred people. That response pales in comparison to the tens of thousands of people who held violent protests in Pakistan last month against a film produced in the United States that denigrated Islam's Prophet Muhammad.
Demonstrations in support of Yousufzai — and against rampant militant violence in the country in general — have also been fairly small compared with those focused on issues such as U.S. drone attacks and the NATO supply route to Afghanistan that runs through Pakistan.
Rizwan Tabassum / AFP - Getty Images
A Pakistani woman shouts slogans during a protest march against the assassination attempt by the Taliban on 14-year-old activist Malala Yousafzai, in Karachi on Sunday. Malala is making "slow and steady progress" in her recovery, the military said.
Right-wing Islamic parties and organizations in Pakistan that regularly pull thousands of supporters into the streets to protest against the U.S. have less of an incentive to speak out against the Taliban, who share their desire to impose Islamic law in the country — even if they may disagree with some of the militant group's violent tactics.
Pakistan's mainstream political parties are often also more willing to harangue the U.S. than direct their people power against Islamist militants shedding blood across the country — partly out of fear and partly because they rely on Islamist parties for electoral support.
One of the exceptions is the political party that organized Sunday's rally in Karachi, the Muttahida Quami Movement. The party's chief, Altaf Hussain, criticized both Islamic and other mainstream political parties for failing to organize rallies to protest the attack against Yousufzai.
Positive developments have been reported regarding the recovery of 14-year-old Malala Yousufzai, who was shot by the Taliban near her school on Tuesday. NBC'S Amna Nawaz reports.
He called the Taliban gunmen who shot the girl "beasts" and said the shooting was an attack on "the ideology of Pakistan."
"Malala Yousufzai is a beacon of knowledge. She is the daughter of the nation," Hussain told the audience by telephone from London, where he is in self-imposed exile because of legal cases pending against him in Pakistan. His party is the strongest in Karachi.
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Many of the demonstrators carried the young girl's picture and banners praising her bravery and expressing solidarity.
Yousufzai earned the enmity of the Taliban for publicizing their behavior when they took over the northwestern Swat Valley, where she lived, and for speaking about the importance of education for girls.
The group first started to exert its influence in Swat in 2007 and quickly extended its reach to much of the valley by the next year. They set about imposing their will on residents by forcing men to grow beards, preventing women from going to the market and blowing up many schools — the majority for girls.
Images of daily life, political pursuits, religious rites and deadly violence.
Yousufzai wrote about these practices in a journal for the BBC under a pseudonym when she was just 11. After the Taliban were pushed out of the valley in 2009 by the Pakistani military, she became even more outspoken in advocating for girls' education. She appeared frequently in the media and was given one of the country's highest honors for civilians for her bravery.
The Pakistani Taliban said they carried out the shooting because Yousufzai was promoting "Western thinking." Police have arrested at least three suspects in connection with the attack, but the two gunmen who carried out the shooting remain at large.
The young girl was shot in the neck, and the bullet headed toward her spine. Doctors at a military hospital operated on her to remove the bullet from her neck, and she was put on a ventilator. Her condition improved somewhat on Saturday when she was able to move her legs and hands after her sedatives were reduced.
On Sunday, she was successfully taken off the ventilator for a short period and later reconnected to avoid fatigue, the military said. Doctors said she is making slow and steady progress.
The possibility of transferring Malala overseas for continued treatment was still being considered, a military spokesman said. Pakistan has arranged a specially equipped air ambulance with the United Arab Emirates that will be used if doctors decide to move her abroad.
Visas are being finalized for the air ambulance crew and six doctors who will accompany the flight, the Pakistani ambassador to the country, Jamil Ahmed Khan, told Pakistan's Geo TV. Arrangements have been made to treat the girl at three hospitals in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, he said.
The UAE Embassy in Islamabad could not immediately be reached for comment.
No decision has yet been taken to send the girl abroad, but the air ambulance is part of the contingency plan, the Pakistani military said.
Afghan President Hamid Karzai has written letters to top political and religious leaders in Pakistan denouncing the attack on Yousufzai and asking them to help battle extremism in both countries, the president's office said in a statement issued late Saturday. Karzai wrote that he views the shooting as an attack on Afghanistan's girls as well.
NBC News’ Fakhar Rehman in Pakistan and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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I'm glad the people of Pakistan are pissed enough to protest against the Taliban. Hopefully they'll get pissed enough to start killing the Taliban off.
The Taliban are simply cowards.
Weak men use violence because it is their last resort. It is so sad that these men’s authority is threatened by a 14 year old girl. This only shows how weak and dumb they really are. Not all of Western thinking is Godly, but making women even to men has made our civilization much, much stronger as a whole.
So FINALLY a protest over something except Israel and the USA!!! Still am I missing something or is there no protest from the USA muslims???? You people say YOU are a religion of peace?? Where is the outpouring of rage? If the women would indeed protest as ONE voice against being treated as cattle or property they MIGHT just MIGHT come into the 21st century otherwise you are damned and doomed to stay living as you did 2000 years ago! Also will YOU WOMEN finally stand up to this and also stop the practice of women circumcism?? For those not familiar their custom dictates the women take the girls, hold the down and cut off their clitoris and then stich their vaginas so that the skin grows together and thus when married it has to be penetrated and ripped open. The Mother in law and family sits outside the wedding bedroom and collects the blood stained sheets as evidence of "virginity". Otherwise if not the custom of honor killing is implimented. These people are IGNORANT and barbarics-stupitidity due to ignorance and lack of schooling and education via men women! Please research before blasting me- these are facts.
Everyday many malala's dies by drone attacks, just because media doesn't show them it doesn't mean they don't exist. Taliban and drones two sides of same evil: killing innocent children. The truth is Taliban don't want the drones to stop because drones are helpful tool for their recruitment process. Such a shame no one had respect for human life.
Looked up "fanatic" in the dictionary, and lo and behold, there was a picture of Overlord. Methinks thou dost protest a bit too much. If you have good wishes to offer for this young lady, fine; otherwise, shut the hell up!
Holy cow! The Taliban finally found a crime that actually gets Muslim Pakistani's upset. Suicide bombing Mosques, military bases, and markets didn't do it. But, sending a hit squad for a school girl - that's where the line is drawn.
Hopefully, the awakening anger of the populace won't fade away soon.
My fellow Americans...you are witnessing true start of democracy in all its infant, violent stages. Just like the Libya people went after the extremist groups who kill our Ambassador Stevens, Pakistan tribal leaders and citizens are going after these Taliban thugs. Maybe we should hold off on all the criticizing that our Administration is weak and let the good Middle Eastern people stand up for themselves...like this brave little girl (who could end up changing the whole dynamics in Pakistan) Just maybe without American intervention just once...We would be the hypocrites if we want democracy, but we want on our terms! Then its not a true democracy. Just like we have good and bad, evil Christians..there are good and bad, evil Muslims! The reason they feared this little girl..because her thirst for "education" would lead to real change, empowerment and revolution. And she embodied that!
critical times hard to deal with, will be here.
Any political/religious philosophy which must attack a little girl because she expresses ideas which they disagree with or are afraid of is bankrupt in the extreme. Ultimately they must fail because they lack compelling arguments for their continued survival in the marketplace of ideologies. Maybe all those mosques can be turned into bazaars, or in the west, flea markets.
save the world...kill a taliban
silence the truth - silence the youthful voice of reason - silence the true spiritual message and shoot the messenger. this is the undertaking of a band of low life scumbags who preach their own brand of male dominated horse@!$%# and their God is not a true God, but a sub Deity that promotes violence and chaos and the slaughter of innocents. this is not a God I pay attention to, but rather one to be judged as a complete failure for allowing the zealots a chance to spread their defamation of humanity. how i wish i could be there when they meet the real God, ahh what a surprise for them, the Taliban, the criminals of the earth, existing below the animals and right along side the one celled varieties of the universe. they spread universal destruction while speaking of their Jihad - their Jihad is not against the Christians, but anyone who gets in their way using reason, foresight and promoting spiritual and humane virtues.
we exist with this vermin and must continue to seek them and destroy them as quickly as possible.
i pray for this young woman to live and speak out once again against the true monsters living on this beautiful planet. may your God protect you little one.namaste
This support for freedom is a triumph sure to be ignored by too many people.
It's remarkable that the people are taking to the streets in protest, but it will soon diminish, I'm afraid, because the wicked Taliban have already vowed to kill her and her father. It's hard to know what to do with these evil creatures because they're like devils lurking in every neighborhood. I know the Middle Eastern countries are in turmoil, but why don't they form an Arab alliance from their nations to help fight the Taliban? It seems that they're well-armed as they shoot and bomb one another so weapons shouldn't be in short supply.
The imans in the mosques have a huge responsibility to preach against violence.
I hope that the deluded Taliban keeps killing because it will only make the non violent, normal Muslims angry enough to take action. I know it sounds mean and it wouldn't take much at this point to turn the ppl. No other non muslim country can go into Pakistan and do something without looking like bullies. The fight will HAVE to come from the Pakistani people. They will have to get fed up and demand action so that no one else has to lose a loved one or deal with some radical. I'm hoping that the people's patience is very short at this point. Malala, heal quickly and be safe in another country. Be brave in your fight for peace and education.
The taliban have finally bite off more than they can chew, they are a bunch of bully cowards and need to be stopped ASAP.
I pray for this young girl and her family..These bullies are exactly that--they hide their faces and shoot little girls who doesn't hide hers...they are stupid illiterate people wanting to keep people down with the false religion of islam..
I used to think that the Taliban were cavemen, but now it's obvious that real cavemen had a lot more sense than the Taliban...
a 14 year old girl who knows the only hope for her country is education,shot down by a bunch of thugs.The 911 plane hijacker's were viewing porn,drinking,doing drugs etc before they hopped on those planes and killed 3000 plus people.bunch of hypocrites who our hell bent on suppressing the people,while they suck the life out of everybody and everything.The Pakistan people should have applauded us on our drone attacks,it kept them low and out of sight,killing them off ,one by one.
After this incident, I hope the Pakistani government passes laws that allow all children, including girls, the right to attend school until graduation; prevents the Taliban from exerting their beliefs and laws upon the Pakistani people and if they attempt to, punish them with harsh punishment; and restricts all people, including women, from being punished without a court trial. The Pakistani government should also pass laws preventing women from being punished by burning, stoning, or any other harsh and primitive methods. Pakistan government should do its best to protect its people from harm by others, provide education and training to adults and children alike, and set up programs to provide it's people with job skills so they can obtain jobs and be self-sufficient. All my prayers are going out to Malala for a fast and speedy recovery.
Yes, that is what we should all be hoping for, but beware, we have among us men with the same mentality, ready to strip women and girls of all the hard fought rights women won in the 20th century. The war on women in the U.S.A. is for real and we must not allow the enemy win.
it takes a child for people to realize how barbaric the fundamentlist are and this should run through all the country's of the world women want equell rights and voting the US should suport womens rights and they don't this i believe because they give money to country's that torture and kill women like they were dogs yet united states including obama and also romney will support country's that are no good and yet we are the ones that are being cowards stand up to them and say hey the women get to vote drive cars and be treated like equels or no money women of the US pay over half the taxes and yet are money is being missaproperated
And I know that we are all hoping and praying for her recovery, no matter what religion we are.
Who did this report? If I can get an email or anything, I would like to contribute to this cause and get others in it as well! Let's make education possible for everyone! What does money have to do with it? We are AMERICA! We fought for our indipendence in the 1700s with an army of about 18,000 men when Britain had 35,000! If we could over come the odds in the past, we can do it again! We need to hold on to our morals and not forget how we became America! "Give me liberty, or give me death!"
-From a proud Advanced Placement United States History student somewhere in Tennessee.
P.S. I will be checking this webpage for updates, so please contribute any information :)
1. The US has to GET OUT of Pakistan. No more troops or military or clandestine operations. Stop the drone attacks. Supply money to just causes like schools or education. Stop the big money which causes nothing but corruption. 2. The people have to fight for their own country. If they do not, or support the Taliban, their country will be turned into a prison camp: An Islamic North Korea. 3. The people protested against the Mohammed cartoon. OK. Nuts but let them protest. They hate the drones. Does anyone blame them. For every radical we kill, a kid grows up hating the US. They are also in the streets, in big numbers, showing their support for this 14 year old girl shot by cowards and Nazis. They do KNOW what is right and wrong, Summary: US GET OUT. Let them fight for their own freedom and independence OR let them go down under the Taliban.