Karzai condemns attack on teenage education activist

Afghan President Hamid Karzai wrote letters to top political and religious leaders in Pakistan, denouncing the Taliban attack on a Pakistani teenager who promoted girls’ education, and called for additional collaboration to fight the extremists. According to a statement from Karzai’s office, the president described the attack on Malala Yousafzai as an attack on all Afghan girls, one that contradicted the religion and culture of both nations. Karzai invited the political and religious leaders to help both countries take “coordinated, collaborative and serious action with strong determination against terrorism and extremism”, his office said in a statement. He said similar attacks had been perpetuated for many years on Afghan schools and students, pointing that Afghanis empathised with Malala’s suffering. In his letters Karzai said the voice and sorrow raised by the peoples of the two countries including political and national leaders must not be silenced, said the statement. The letters were sent to more than a dozen political and religious leaders, including President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, PML-N President Nawaz Sharif, Jamaat-e-Islami leader Qazi Hussain Ahmed, PML-Q President Chaudhry Shujaat Hussain and PTI chief Imran Khan. On Saturday, schools across Afghanistan made prayers for Malala’s recovery following a decree from the Afghan Ministry of Education in a notable show of solidarity with Pakistan to defend girls’ education.