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Malala Yusufzai: Victim of Barbaric Terror and Dirty Politics

Conspiracy theorists never take a break. Because they are ill informed and lack basic comphrension skills do not understand what is going on they immediately and always jump to some foolish conclusion. These people never closely analyze the situation nor do they do any further research on the situation. These people bring nothing but shame, embarassment and humilation to themselves and their country.

And if this was was a conspiracy wouldn't the Medical Staff have done a better job to make Malala look more injured and sick as is was?? How stupid it is that I even have to go into length about this.

If you take a look at the picture below, you can clearly see (if you choose to) a bandage that is covering the gunshot wound (zoom in if you have to). It is a clean entry and exit wound. This why she is still alive. This is consistent with a 9mm weapon that was used in this case (a low velocity weapon). It would be another case if a hollow point bullet was used as these types of bullets are very rare in Afghanistan/Pakistan, or if a high velocity rifle was used.



The medical staff tried their best to obscure Malala injuries as it is unethical in Western countries to show off a victim's injuries.

Compare these pictures. The first one I clearly pointed to where the bandage is. It is covered by my redline. Use the bottom picture to see the bandage.

apmalalayousufzaint1210.jpg




apmalalayousufzaint1210.jpg
 
DAWN

SIGNS of panic are evident in Pakistani Taliban ranks following the attack on Malala Yousufzai. They are clearly trying to recover from their biggest defeat on the propaganda front after the attack on the 14-year-old in Swat.

The damage was done by the initial claiming and justifying of the attack on Malala by the Taliban spokesperson. Subsequent mud-slinging by the Taliban has also seriously backfired. It may lead to fissures among the Taliban over their propaganda strategy, which had been proceeding largely smoothly, despite defeats on the military front. In the Malala case, there is a likelihood that the militants may launch indiscriminate attacks in frustration.

In recent years, the real strength of the militants belonging to most groups has been their ability to sell their cause; and through their propaganda strategies they have tried to counterbalance differences between the capabilities of the security forces and the militants. Their utmost weakness also lies in their strength — that they cannot tolerate any voice that challenges their cause or ideology. This is a common characteristic of major militant movements the world over.

The militants had carefully crafted a propaganda strategy, built around the cause of struggle against oppressive forces in Afghanistan and gradually expanded into the realm of the state system, the socio-cultural way of life and, most dangerously, in the sectarian domain.

The short-term goal of the Pakistani Taliban was to liberate Afghanistan from the US-led forces through ‘jihad’ and a secondary objective was to enforce a new social, political and economic order based on their ideology or interpretation of Islam. The long-term objective was to drive out the ‘infidel’ forces from all Muslim lands. The Taliban associate their identity with various Islamic and Islamist movements across the world and scoff at geographical boundaries of states.

An average Muslim may not disagree with this cause, and when the objectives include anti-imperialism people consider it a revolutionary movement. The Taliban have tactically manipulated their agenda. Religious political parties that are part of the mainstream electoral process and moderate Islamic scholars have struggled to counter the Taliban on the ideological front.

Apart from their well-defined ideological inspiration, the Taliban have got logistic support from international terrorist groups and used terrorism to achieve objectives which can be summarised as follows:

1. To destabilise the state’s security apparatus so that people look towards the Taliban for protection.

2. To force the government not to interfere in Taliban-controlled areas so that they can continue their activities unhindered.

3. To force the government to bring structural changes in laws or the constitution, or to bring a new system according to the Taliban agenda.

Some Taliban groups have sectarian agendas, especially against Shias and followers of Sufism. They are also well connected with global terrorist groups, such as Al Qaeda, which have even more dangerous agendas of destabilising or toppling the government and capturing territory.


Until 2004, the main focus of the Pakistani Taliban was on protecting foreign militants, recruiting for the war in Afghanistan, training the recruits, and securing their position against security operations. Their main strategic victory that made them a major player in the area, however, came after a tactical change in their operations: they began kidnapping security and other government officials in 2004.

Although suicide attacks on security forces that started in 2006 targeted the morale of the security forces, it was the kidnapping strategy that elevated the Taliban to a position where they could negotiate with the government on their terms and bargain for the release of captured militants as well.

The Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) has provided shelter to smaller groups working under the command of Mehsud militant commanders. Baitullah Mehsud had tried to unite all these groups under the banner of Mullah Omar, the Afghan Taliban’s supreme leader. Every group that wished to join the TTP had to

take an oath of allegiance to Omar and proclaim its commitment to the enforcement of Sharia.

Contrary to common perceptions, the Afghan and Pakistani Taliban groups are bound by ideological, ethnic and socio-political ties. The Pakistani Taliban are an imitation of the Afghan Taliban and their raison d’être is linked to their Afghan counterparts. If they detach themselves from the Afghan Taliban, they lose their justification to exist. In this context, the formation of the TTP in Pakistan was an important development which brought together scattered tribal Taliban groups and also other Pakistani militant groups, such as Lashkar-i-Jhangvi, and splinters of Kashmir-based groups.

The Taliban have remained resolute in pursuing their strategy of propaganda and ideological propagation. They are trying to appeal to the people in the name of religion and ethnicity, using a combination of temptations and threats to keep them from siding with the ‘enemy’. They are extremely intolerant of their ‘ideological enemies’, who can be classified into two broad categories: those people following and supporting practices the Taliban deem un-Islamic, and ‘infidels and their friends’.

In the current context, it would be difficult for the Taliban to modify the cause and propaganda strategies as they have marked clear ‘us-versus-them’ boundaries. It is now time for them to revise their arguments, which still appeal to fragmented segments of society. But they will not be able to reverse the narrative against them. Not only religious-political parties but also the new far right, the Difaa-i-Pakistan Council, seem to be on the defensive. These are the actors who transmit the Taliban’s narratives and serve as connections between the masses and the militants.

Obviously, the mainstream media is a new front for the Taliban, where they are fast losing sympathies. It is not the media’s war but a media war, where opinion leaders need to be well equipped with arguments. The dilemma with the electronic media is that political parties’ representatives have taken over the job of opinion leaders, and they lack clarity on the issue and perceive every issue through the prism of their political parties’ interest. They need to realise that in this new phase of insurgency arguments have more value than bullets.
 
Conspiracy theorists never take a break. Because they are ill informed and lack basic comphrension skills do not understand what is going on they immediately and always jump to some foolish conclusion. These people never closely analyze the situation nor do they do any further research on the situation. These people bring nothing but shame, embarassment and humilation to themselves and their country.

And if this was was a conspiracy wouldn't the Medical Staff have done a better job to make Malala look more injured and sick as is was?? How stupid it is that I even have to go into length about this.

If you take a look at the picture below, you can clearly see (if you choose to) a bandage that is covering the gunshot wound (zoom in if you have to). It is a clean entry and exit wound. This why she is still alive. This is consistent with a 9mm weapon that was used in this case (a low velocity weapon). It would be another case if a hollow point bullet was used as these types of bullets are very rare in Afghanistan/Pakistan, or if a high velocity rifle was used.



The medical staff tried their best to obscure Malala injuries as it is unethical in Western countries to show off a victim's injuries.

Compare these pictures. The first one I clearly pointed to where the bandage is. It is covered by my redline. Use the bottom picture to see the bandage.

apmalalayousufzaint1210.jpg




apmalalayousufzaint1210.jpg

Nice work ... Facebook is full of stupid questions like these .. how many people can you answer problem is they will come up with some thing even more stupid next time.
 
Probably the best summary of the state of confusion that this incidence has caused in Pakistan polity. Needless to say that all Deobandi parties continue to show their pro-Taliban stance.


Quote


If they come to kill me


S Iftikhar Murshed
Monday, October 22, 2012
From Print Edition

The writer is the publisher of Criterion quarterly.

Only children are blessed with the priceless gift of spontaneity. They have the ability to express their innermost thoughts, their fears and their hopes in simple words that stir the soul. A few weeks before Malala Yousafzai was shot in the head by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), she said: “I think about it often and imagine the scene clearly. Even if they come to kill me, I will tell them what they are doing is wrong...” In no civilised society would any citizen, least of all a child, be perpetually haunted by such fears.

Malala’s brave words, so replete with dreadful forebodings, were not encumbered by any ornamental turn of the phrase but were articulated with the precision of mathematics. The 14-year-old school girl from Swat refused to be intimidated by the death threats from the TTP for merely seeking her right to education. But despite this, the state failed in its obligation under the constitution to provide her protection and, as a consequence, she received a bullet in her skill. Malala miraculously survived the assassination attempt but it is uncertain what the future may hold for her as she lies barely conscious in a hospital bed in far away Birmingham. There has been public outrage but this has not translated into a nationwide surge in support for military action against the terrorist groups ensconced in North Waziristan, the only tribal agency where, till now, the Pakistan Army has not launched any operation. Every political leader in the country has condemned the hideous incident, but most of them have been noticeably diffident about castigating the TTP even though it has, with despicable nonchalance, claimed responsibility.

The self-righteous chief of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI), Imran Khan, could do no better than say that drone attacks were responsible for the TTP’s attacks on civilians. These views were strikingly similar to those of Ataur Rehman, a member of the National Assembly, and the brother of the Jamiat-e-Ulema Islam-F chief Maulana Fazlur Rehman. Without batting an eyelid, he proclaimed form the floor of the house that the “real culprits” for the assassination attempt on Malala were drone strikes, and, young people would be well-advised not to slavishly follow the dictates of the US-led west. Qazi Hussain Ahmad of the Jamaat-e-Islami chimed in with the absurd statement that excessive praise for the bravery of Malala had been the cause for the murderous attack on her person. His daughter, Dr Samia Raheel Qazi, obviously enamoured by the skewed religiosity of the TTP, referred to them as “our brothers.” A ludicrous narrative was concocted that Malala and her father, Ziauddin Yousafzai, were American agents, and, soon afterwards, pictures surfaced on the internet showing the child and her family with the late Richard Holbrooke, the former US special envoy for Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Two days after the treacherous assault on Malala, Imran Khan visited the hospital in Peshawar where she was first admitted, unconscious and gasping desperately for life through a ventilator. He made the usual sympathetic noises, but when questioned about his failure to condemn the TTP, he responded unconvincingly: “We have local affiliates and supporters. Sure I can give big statements against the Taliban but that would make them (his supporters) Taliban targets.” Spineless cowardice was thus on display and contrasted sharply with the courage of little Malala who scintillated with a gem-like flame when she boldly affirmed that she would not abandon her fight for the education of girls. Even if the TTP tried to kill her, she would look them in the eye and “tell them what they are doing is wrong.” Like Seneca, the Stoic philosopher of ancient Rome, she was convinced that “all cruelty stems from weakness.”

The hallmark of feeble minds is the inability to stand up to any form of criticism. In the past week there have been editorials and write-ups in several major newspapers deploring the hundreds of obnoxious emails and other forms of electronic messaging from the PTI roughnecks for criticising Imran Khan. Even more sinister was Maulana Fazlur Rehman’s implied threat that statements lambasting clerics and the religious parties for their failure to denounce the TTP were being monitored. The next day reports emerged that the Taliban intended to target media houses in the major cities. It is difficult for the JUI chief to abstain from making absurdly inane pronouncements and this was evident in his keynote address at the Islam Zindabad Conference in Sukkur on October 14 when he said: “If you want to safeguard your Malalas, and want them to return home safely from school, you have to reject the incumbent leadership and elect religious leadership.” He then added that the attack on Malala was part of a diabolical plan to justify a military operation in North Waziristan in accordance with the wishes of the US. A variation of this theme was propounded by the banned Hizb-ut-Tahrir, which disseminated a message to the media accusing US intelligence of masterminding the hideous assassination attempt on Malala.

These outlandish theories were inspired by Interior Minister Rehman Malik, who, on the spur of the moment, thoughtlessly announced that the government was contemplating army action in North Waziristan. He later denied that any such plan was in the offing, but then flew off at a tangent and, unbelievable though it seems, actually said that the TTP chief, Hakimullah Mehsud, had not been seen for “approximately two months and 11 days. He should disclose whether he is injured or ill or has just escaped somewhere.” The wry comment of a PML-N parliamentarian was that the interior minister had probably been infected by the water-borne brain-eating amoeba, Naeglaria Fowleri. Despite Rehman Malik’s denial, the government tabled a resolution in the National Assembly proposing the launch of a military onslaught in North Waziristan. But this was shot out of the skies by the PML-N’s Chaudhry Nisar who said there were several unanimous resolutions that had not been implemented and therefore it was pointless adding to the pile of consensus documents on which no action would be taken.

Chaudhry Nisar, as the parliamentary leader of the opposition, has demonstrated, time and again, that he is incapable of clever, concentrated criticism of the government. He justified his rejection of the resolution on the thoroughly dishonest claim that the military operation in Swat had been an abject failure and, therefore, the mistake should not be replicated in North Waziristan. The only political party represented in parliament and the Sindh Assembly that was forthright about the need for militarily confronting the TTP in North Waziristan was the MQM. Its leader, Altaf Hussain, addressed a rally in Karachi last Sunday and urged the army to launch the offensive. He warned that even if after the despicable attack on Malala, military action was not taken, “the nation may be left with no option but to seek international help.” As he spoke, Maulana Fazlur Rehman was conveying an entirely different message at the Islam Zindabad meeting in Sukkur.

Yet another voice staunchly in favour of militarily crushing the TTP was that of the chairman of the Sunni Ittehad Council, Haji Sahibzada Fazal Karim. He told journalists in Multan that the TTP only “want to implement their ideology, which is terrorism.” What transpires is that the government has failed miserably to galvanise countrywide support for conclusively defeating the TTP and its terrorist affiliates. In his address to the ECO Summit in Baku, President Zardari declaimed with insincerity: “I want to speak to you today about the Daughter of Pakistan – my daughter Malala Yousafzai.” But she is only a stepdaughter whose simple desire for a proper education without fear will not be fulfilled so long as the country does not cure itself from what someone described as “an intolerant and severe nationalism that conflates piety with patriotism.”

Email: iftimurshed ***********

If they come to kill me - S Iftikhar Murshed

Unquote
 
These terrorist should be sentenced to death who are responsible for this ridiculous attack on Malala
 
Malala makes steady progress with family’s support, comfort




ISLAMABAD Malala Yousufzai’s family members are meeting her regularly at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham as the 15-year-old schoolgirl is making steady progress.

It was learnt that Malala’s father, mother and brother are in Birmingham but they have been provided secure accommodation at a walking distance from the hospital.

Both Pakistani and the UK authorities have agreed not to disclose their location but a source said that Malala’s mother has been visiting her daughter everyday and providing her much-needed comfort and assurance.

The source said that the presence of Malala’s parents around her has contributed to her recovery and have raised hopes that the courageous young girl will be able to recover fully soon.

Both Pakistani government and hospital authorities are refusing to confirm or deny about the presence of Malala’s parents in the city but a source revealed that had flown in with Malala a week ago but were taken to a secret location from the airport.

The source said that West Midlands’ police officers are providing security to the family members. A spokesperson at the hospital refused to speak about the family’s visit to the hospital.

Former British prime minister Gordon Brown, who is currently the UN Special Envoy on Education, sent a “message to Malala father.

“Britain’s first thoughts are to wish your daughter a speedy recovery and to say that here in the UK we will do everything we can to be of assistance and help and to say that we are prepared to help her in any way” the message said.

“I wanted to report to you as UN Special Envoy for Education that the whole world is wishing your daughter well and marveling at her courage and vision and at the courage and vision of your whole family”.

We have begun to appreciate how difficult it has been for you and your family during these challenging times and when there has been so much opposition to you and your daughter’s call for education for girls”.

You have shown great fortitude and you have my support,” Brown wrote.

Meanwhile, Mian Iftikhar Hussain, Information Minister for Khyber Pukhtunkhwa (KP) province, visited the hospital to convey to the hospital authorities his gratitude for Malala’s care on behalf of the government of Pakistan but he was not allowed to visit Malala.

The hospital sources said on Tuesday that a week after arriving in Birmingham, Malala was ‘in a stable condition’ and she remained under the care of a specialist team from both the Queen Elizabeth and Birmingham Children’s hospitals.




Oman Tribune - the edge of knowledge
 
Swat Valley, Pakistan (CNN) -- Nine people have been arrested in connection with the shooting of Malala Yousufzai, the teenage activist who spoke out against the Taliban, though the main suspect remained at large, Pakistani police said Wednesday.
Police identified Atta Ullah Khan, a 23-year-old man from the Swat district where Malala was attacked, as the primary suspect. Police said they were searching for Khan, who was studying for a master's degree in chemistry.
The Swat Valley in northwestern Pakistan is a Taliban redoubt.
In addition to arresting six men -- all of them from Swat -- police have arrested Khan's mother, brother and fiancee, but the suspect's relatives were not accused of involvement, a senior police official told CNN.
The official did not say what role Khan may have played.
Khan had studied for his Bachelor of Science degree in physics at Jahanzeb College in Swat.
Alam Zeb, the school's principal, said Khan had given school officials three or four dates of birth. He condemned the attack and said he was surprised to hear that a former student may have been involved.
Malala's story
The 15-year-old girl, who has become a symbol of courage after being shot in the head by the Taliban for demanding education for girls, is being treated at a hospital in Birmingham, England.
Brown: Malala a symbol for girls' rights
On Wednesday, she remained in stable condition and "continues to make good progress," the hospital's website said. She is expected to need "a significant period of rest and recuperation" before undergoing reconstructive surgery, Dr. Dave Rosser, medical director of University Hospitals Birmingham, said last week.
Photos: Supporters rally behind Malala
Malala was fighting an infection, but was able to move her extremities and has stood with help from nurses, the hospital said.
Malala's family remains in Pakistan.
Malala can't speak because a tube has been inserted into her trachea to protect her airway, which was swollen after her gunshot injury, but she was writing coherent sentences, Rosser said.
The Pakistani Taliban have claimed responsibility for the October 9 shooting and vowed to kill Malala if she recovers.

Editor's note: Andrew Keen is a British-American entrepreneur and professional skeptic. He is the author of "The Cult of the Amateur," and "Digital Vertigo." Follow @ajkeen on Twitter.
(CNN) -- The ideal of childhood, and the protection of its innocence, is a central pillar of both our morality and our legal code. There is, therefore, little that shocks and outrages us more than crimes by adults against children.
Unfortunately, we have much to be shocked and outraged about. There have, for example, been a number of recent pedophile criminal cases inside the Catholic church and at universities like Pennsylvania University. And in the Congo, the crimes against children by the warlord Joseph Kony triggered KONY 2012 -- an online crusade made up of mostly children against Kony's abuse of children.
What is KONY 2012?
The last couple of weeks have brought us two more disturbingly high-profile criminal cases against children.

Andrew Keen
First there was the failed attempt by the medieval Pakistani Taliban to kill the 14-year-old education activist and BBC blogger Malala Yousufzai. And now there are the lurid accusations against the BBC celebrity Jimmy Savile, who is alleged to have sexually abused children.
These grotesque crimes may have been separated by several decades and by thousands of miles, but they have one thing in common. Both the Pakistani Taliban and Jimmy Savile sought to destroy the innocence of youth. Savile is accused of treating children as if they had adult bodies and sexual appetites, while the Taliban attempt to murder Malala Yousufzai was driven by their rejection of the idea of education for girls and thus, in a sense, of the very idea of childhood itself.
But Malala, who is now recovering from the assassination attempt at an English hospital, shares our modern conception of childhood. "I have the right of education," she told CNN. "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."
Malala's story Brown: Malala a symbol for girls' rights Girl shot by Taliban able to stand up
What Malala is claiming is the right to an autonomous childhood, the right to transform herself from an innocent child to a knowing adult -- and to be let alone by the adult world in this journey. This right is mirrored by the experience of Jimmy Savile's alleged victims, whose innocent childhoods were ruined by their exposure to his criminal adult appetites.
A Taliban spokesman said of the attack on Malala: "She has become a symbol of Western culture in the area. She was openly propagating it. Let this be a lesson."
The Taliban, with their rejection of the very idea of childhood, are of course wrong. But the Malala case does indeed offer us a "lesson." Yes, we should all be horrified by this appalling crime against a 14-year-old Pakistani girl from the Swat Valley, but I fear that, in our idealization of childhood and in our acute sensitivity to the innocence of brave young girls like Malala, we are ourselves vulnerable to transforming children into celebrity martyrs -- modern day versions of Joan of Arc.
This happened with KONY 2012, a movement akin, as I wrote earlier this year, to a children's crusade. And Malala, who was nominated for the 2011 International Children's Peace Prize, is herself in danger of becoming a symbol of injustice exploited by everyone from UNICEF to Madonna and CNN itself.
So how did this happen? Unfortunately, Malala was allowed, by her family, by many Pakistanis and by the media to become a spokesman against the Taliban. The well-meaning BBC is partially to blame here, for giving her a highly visible blog that would inevitably attract Taliban ire.
Malala's equally well-meaning father holds some responsibility too, for allowing his daughter to become so vulnerable -- as does the world's media for transforming the teenager into a global celebrity.
Our ideal of childhood is rooted in allowing children to being let alone by the adult world to develop themselves. We need adults to fight their political battles -- to have prosecuted Jimmy Savile, to hunt down Joseph Kony, to fight the Pakistan Taliban. Let's remember that children are, in every sense, innocent and thus shouldn't be encouraged to become the foot soldiers in the battle against their own exploitation.
The story of Malala Yousufzai should be seen as both an inspiration and a warning.
CNN is currently encouraging its readers to send messages to Malala. My message to her is twofold. Firstly, I dearly hope that you recover quickly from your wounds. And secondly, once you recover, I hope you'll be able to go back to the privacy of your childhood, to simply being Malala rather than a global celebrity whose image is owned by other people.
(The BBC addressed its connection with Malala Yousufzai on its blog called The Editors, and you can read it by following the link here).
http://edition.cnn.com/2012/10/24/opinion/opinion-keen-malala/index.html?hpt=hp_c2
 
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