The Pakistani government is offering a Rs 10 million ($105,000) bounty for the capture of the Pakistani Taliban assailants who seriously injured Malala Yousafzai in a shooting in the northwestern Swat Valley on Tuesday.
Yousafzai, who is a teenage rights and education activist, was shot in the head and neck on Tuesday as she headed home from school in Mingora, reports Al Jazeera .
The 14-year-old girl has since undergone surgery to remove a bullet lodged in her skull and is resting at Peshawar’s Combined Military Hospital.
The information minister for Khyber-Pakhtinkhwa province, Mian Iftikhar Hussain, stated that the girl has been sedated after surgery and that, while she is in stable condition, she is not yet out of danger. The country’s interior minister, Rehman Malik, stated:
“The government has decided to award Rs 10 million rupees to whoever helps us identify the attackers and their names will be kept secret.”
Malik added that authorities have identified the attackers but have not yet made any arrests. Meanwhile, the country is offering up prayers of support for Malala Yousafzai’s recovery.
CNN notes that, in a 2011 interview with the 14-year old activist, she stated:
“I have the right of an education. I have the right to play. I have the right to sing. I have the right to talk. I have the right to go to market. I have the right to speak up.”
The shooting has sparked a firestorm of criticism, with many people saying the attack was cowardly as well as an example of how the Pakistani government is unable to cope with militants.
A spokesman for the Pakistani Taliban stated that the group was responsible for the shooting of Malala Yousafza has warned, “If she survives this time, she won’t next time. We will certainly kill her.”
