Shooting of Pakistani teen activist prompts widespread outcry

[struggle4progress]

By Richard Leiby, Updated: Wednesday, October 10, 7:35 PM

ISLAMABAD — In a country where militant attacks occur almost daily, the Taliban’s attempted assassination of a 14-year-old education rights activist in northwestern Pakistan united Pakistanis from across social divides Wednesday in a remarkable and rare display of collective outrage against extremism.

The shooting Tuesday of Malala Yousafzai, who remains in critical condition in a Peshawar military hospital, brought condemnation from conservative clerics, secular politicians, the military and media figures at a time when Pakistanis had seemed almost numb to rising extremism ...

Yousafzai was already a national hero for her fearless opposition to the Taliban, which closed her father’s school and other girls’ schools in Swat when the militants imposed harsh Islamic law there from 2007 until 2009. In conversations Wednesday, Pakistanis referred to her as “that brave girl” and tuned into television networks’ constant updates on her condition after surgeons removed the life-threatening bullet ...

An editorial Wednesday in the News, an English-language daily, seemed to capture the national mood: “Malala Yousafzai is in critical condition today, and so is Pakistan,” it said. “We are infected with the cancer of extremism, and unless it is cut out we will slide ever further into the bestiality that this latest atrocity exemplifies.” ...

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/pakistani-girl-still-unconscious-after-surgery-clerics-mostly-silent-on-shooting/2012/10/10/7886e164-12d3-11e2-9a39-1f5a7f6fe945_story.html

[surrealAmerican]

1. I'm glad there is a lot of support for this child.

k & r

[niyad]

2. k and r

[riderinthestorm]

3. K&R. This magnificent, brave, beautiful girl!

I grieve for Pakistan sliding into the crazy extremism and hope this poor girl's life can be a catalyst for some painful self-examination.

[smirkymonkey]

4. K&R!

I hope this poor girl gets well and gets justice. The person who did this to her is a shameless coward.