Malala shooting ‘an attack on all Pakistani girls’: President Zardari

President Asif Ali Zardari on Tuesday said the shooting of 14-year-old Malala Yousafzai by the Taliban was an attack on all girls in the country and on civilisation itself. In some of his most poignant remarks on the incident to date, Zardari vowed not to let her shooting stop the nation’s drive to educate girls.
“The Taliban attack on the 14-year-old girl, who from the age of 11 was involved in the struggle for education for girls, is an attack on all girls in Pakistan, an attack on education, and on all civilised people,” Zardari said at an economic summit in the Azerbaijani capital Baku. “The work that she led was higher before God than what terrorists do in the name of religion. We will continue her shining cause,” he said.
Zardari voiced three “clear and present dangers” in the region. The president named terrorism, poverty and illiteracy, fundamental peoples’ rights as three major dangers that threatened the region.
“No other region shares as much as we do, but also no other region is under as much threat as we are.” He said that regional cooperation is very important, as countries must face their challenges with courage and collective action.
Malala was attacked on her school bus in the former Taliban stronghold of Swat a week ago as a punishment for campaigning for the right to an education and free expression. Zardari said such attacks would not deter Pakistan in its search for broader social justice. “Terrorists should not have an impact on our future. We ourselves must determine our future,” he said. The shooting has been denounced worldwide and by Pakistan, which has said it will do everything possible to ensure Malala recovers and will meet all the costs of her treatment. She was flown to Britain for specialist treatment at a hospital in Birmingham on Monday where doctors said she had “a chance of making a good recovery”.