Malala shows improvement but still on ventilator

A schoolgirl shot in the head by the Taliban showed signs of improvement by moving her limbs Saturday, the military said, though she remains unconscious and on a ventilator. The shooting of 14-year-old Malala Yousafzai, who campaigned for the right to an education, has been denounced worldwide and by the Pakistani authorities, who have offered a reward of more than $100,000 for the capture of her attackers. “The sedation given to Malala was reduced today so that neurosurgeons could do their clinical assessment and as a result of it Malala responded and moved her hands and feet,” military spokesman Major General Asim Saleem Bajwa said. “It is a positive development,” Bajwa told a press conference near Army headquarters in the garrison city of Rawalpindi, close to the capital Islamabad, where Malala is being treated in a military hospital. “As per doctors, (the) condition of Malala is stable.” A team of specialist doctors are providing “constant care” to Malala and all “contingencies” were in place in case they decide to move her abroad for further treatment, the general said. “It is a case of serious head injury and the progress is very slow in it.” Two other girl students wounded with Malala were “also being taken care of at places where they can get best treatment”, he said, without elaborating. Bajwa said that all available resources were being used to investigate the incident and some arrests had been made, but he declined to say how many people were currently in custody and how many had been let go. Asked whether the military might now consider launching an offensive against the Taliban in their tribal area stronghold of North Waziristan, on the Afghan border, Bajwa said: “Such decisions are not taken overnight.” A military statement earlier said: “(The) health condition of Malala continues to remain satisfactory. Her vitals are okay and she is still on ventilator.”
Afghan students pray for Malala’s recovery
: KABUL: Schools in Afghanistan opened Saturday with special prayers for the quick recovery of a Pakistani schoolgirl shot in the head by Taliban, in a move officials said was to show solidarity with her. The Pakistani Taliban shot Malala Yousafzai, a teenage children’s rights activist, in the head on her school bus Tuesday, to avenge her campaigns for the right to an education in the militants’ former stronghold of Swat. The shooting of the 14-year-old activist was denounced around the world. “To show sympathy to Malala Yousafzai around 9.5 million students all over the country in 15,500 schools and education centres offered prayers for her quick recovery,” education ministry spokesman Amanullah Iman told AFP. “The students also expressed their solidarity to their sister (Malala) because the attack on her was an attack on education,” he said. “Malala is just a girl and student like us, she shouldn’t have been shot,” Freshta, a 10 grade pupil told AFP. “Today we recited Quran and prayed for her recovery,” she said. The show of solidarity to Malala comes two days after armed men attacked a girls’ school in relatively peaceful Bamyan province in central Afghanistan, causing considerable damage but no injuries, official said. The Taliban government, removed from power by a US-led invasion in 2001, had enforced a strict ban on girls attending schools. There are fears that gains made by women and girls since the Taliban were ousted from power in a US-led invasion in 2001 could be eroded when international troops pull out by 2014.