Obama decries 'disgusting' attack on Malala
Speaking to reporters at the press briefing, White House spokesperson Jay Carney relayed President Obama’s sentiments and said that the United States has offered any necessary assistance to Malala. "As part of this offer, the US military has agreed to provide air ambulance and medical treatment at a facility suitable for her condition if it becomes necessary."
The WH spokesperson added that the US has strongly condemned the shooting, and that directing violence at children is barbaric and cowardly. "Our hearts go out to her and the others who were wounded, as well as their families."
Earlier, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said that Malala was attacked by extremists who do not want girls to have an education or speak for themselves.
Speaking at an event to commemorate the 100th anniversary of Girl Scouts at the State Department on Wednesday, Secretary Clinton said that Malala has been very brave in standing up for the rights of girls in the area she belongs to. Secretary Clinton said that the teenage peace activist was attacked and shot by extremists who don't want girls to become leaders, and are threatened by that kind of empowerment.
She added that their efforts should be to support women who struggle against tradition, culture, outright hostility and violence to pursue their potential.
Ban Ki Moon ‘outraged’ over Malala attack
United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki Moon in a statement issued through his spokesperson said that he was “outraged” over the incident.
"Like so many others in Pakistan and around the world he's truly outraged by this attack," Ban's spokesman Martin Nesirky told reporters. "To show his support he's writing to the family of Malala Yousufzai."
In a statement later on Wednesday, Ban called for those responsible for "this heinous and cowardly act to be swiftly brought to justice," saying he had been "deeply moved" by Yousufzai's courageous efforts to promote a right to education.
Later, United Nations Children's Fund’s Leila Zerrougui, also strongly condemned the attack.
"Education is a fundamental right for all children," said Zerrougui in a statement. "The (Pakistani Taliban) must respect the right to education of all children, including girls, to go to school and live in peace."
France condemns attack
In a statement released by the French embassy in Islamabad on Wednesday, the murder attempt on Malala was condemned.
“Attempt against a defenseless girl illustrates the cowardice and cruelty of the Taliban, who have claimed responsibility of the attack.
France called the Pakistani authorities to carry tracking down the persons, who ordered and carried out this attack and promptly bring them before justice.
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@Naveed Khan: Dear Naweed Khan,
I am not altogether critical of your statement, and you may very well be totally quite correct. However, from my point-of-view I think we really have to be looking at the big picture on a world wide basis, because most of the problems occurring in the Middle-East through to the West of the sub-continent are being, at the very least, aggravated by Western interests. The problem in explaining the situation is, where do we start from. There are so many vested interests, there is so much greed, so much bigotry, so many people with egos larger then the sun that it is extremely difficult to point at the exact beginning of where all the problems started from. However there has to be a start and I suspect that Western interests are chortling over the fact that they have created such a conundrum for Pakistan and other countries. There have always been problems in Pakistan, but why should Pakistan be different form any other country. For example, America is a total mess, and that is why its prison population is the largest in the world. Also, America has exacerbated the Western sub continent's problems by an astronomical amount. The US armed and trained semi-military groups such as the Taliban. Then, the US invaded, overthrew the Taliban, called them terrorists, forced them and other groups over the border into Pakistan and have been attacking them with drones and air strikes for 12 years. Surprisingly, the Taliban have been fighting back ever since and have been a headache for both the US and Pakistan Governments, and will be until the US gets out, if that will ever happen. In regard to Malala, I wonder if President Obama will ever express his sympathy for the half million children the US has killed or maimed in the last 12 years or so. I wonder if he has sympathy for the destruction of Iraq, Libya, Syria. The US are now threatening Iran which gets ever closer and places a pincer movement around.Pakistan. Perhaps if America/NATO got out of the sub-continent area the Pakistan Government could handle its own affairs somewhat better, Pakistan may calm down, and life may improve. It could not get worse, and will not improve whilst the US/NATO people are around.
@danisha: Open your eyes. People like you are the true fanatics. Please continue to live in blindness all your life - it will get you very far.
@Karim: In one paragraph you have said it all. Lets hope the selfish people who rule this sad country have some shame left in them to do something worth while.
From a dispassionate point-on-view one could look at this as an economic problem. Obviously females make up 50 per cent of the population. If a number of this magnitude was not allowed to be educated it would not bode well for a countries economic development. With this in mind one wonders what is the thinking behind preventing education? Is it because some men find the the concept of an educated women to be a scary notion, or is it because it does not fit into the shape of what they think a woman should be? I suppose somebody has answered this question, but I do not know what it is, mainly because I have not mixed with people who wish to keep females illiterate.
Reply to Brahma- Not that im a fan of Benazir Bhutto but seriously the word TALIBAN means student and this name has passed on from Mujaheddin and we all know where the inception of the MUJAHEDDIN came from and during what war, so lets stop playing the blame game.
@Ahmed: Does this attack and all other killings belong to the glory of Muslim Umma?
@Karim:
It’s a schizophrenic situation when the Saudi’s Petro dollars are being used to preserve the Saudi Wahabi Brand of Islam in foreign countries, while they sell their old and themselves to the West. Instead these Petro Dollars to should be used for Democracy in Saudi Arabia instead of their prevailing Kingdom of Jihalat.
Women and girls have to stand up for our right for education… that‘s what Malala wanted and has stood for with her life; which was the reason why the barbaric Taliban shot her!
According to media reports, President Obama said that the United States offered any necessary assistance to Malala. “As part of this offer, the US military has agreed to provide air ambulance and medical treatment at a facility suitable for her condition ... So now we have to make sure this assistance is accepted when required for Malala.
@Karim: Your analysis is half complete. All the countries that you named are backed by? any guesses? the USA. Then you have also missed out an another important fact, who funded the Taliban & the so called group known as Al-Qaeda during the soviet invasion of Afghanistan? The USA & Saudi's :) they are the ones who funded and trained people called in from other countries. Pakistan had to protect itself & Afghans but after the war was over we were left on our own by these countries who brought & funded these people. Taliban is just a metaphor used for fear these days, in reality Pakistan is facing terrorism from within & outside which has no link to Afghan Taliban, same is the case in Arab spring & Iraq where so many people are dying everyday due to peoples frustration added with outside influence (don't forget that all these countries had leaders backed by USA government for a long time) do they have Taliban's as well??? the outside influence, Mullah culture & the poor elitist leadership are the real root cause for Pakistan's troubles, there is just no one cause for the violence in this region.
A war criminal condemning other war criminals wow irony. The people pretending to be pakistani and asking US to attack pakistan shame on you and then you wonder why we have such polarization. Fix yourself 1st before pointing fingers at anyone else.
@Karim: It is true that Pakistan (first) and Arab states (at second level) introduced the root causes of today's bad results. But there are some serious concerns:
It has nothing to do with wahabi Islam or any other school of thought. it was purely political interests. Pakistan itself is primary responsible nothing else. Muslims should unite and get rid of petty issues and disagreements. Our media and international politics is driving and publicising the issues like this sad incidence of malala for western political gains. Muslims should stop taking understanding about the religion and life from the west (does not mean that dont get knowledge about science and other areas but not religion and life).For the unity and glory of all Muslim Umma.
Mr. President there are many others in the row.... Children and women died in the drone attacks!!! Afia siddiqi!!!! Children and women killed in Iraq and Afghanistan!!! lat but not the least the other children injured in the same attack.
Its less humanity more politics and propaganda against the muslims.
All the time it is simple to say TTP, OBL, etc. Thanks to the media.
After 10 days of IK sat in Peshawar against drone attacks - Osma found in abattabad, After 2 days of IK peach march against drone attacks - Malala been shot in the head and Obma + Ban condemned.
I am not supporting Talibans, but amazingly soon after she was shut, Talibans accepted her responsibility !!!! Just after Imran Khan campaign against drone attacks. First time, I heard that Talibans accepted responsibility of killing 14 years teenager. I don't believe this...suddenly US president, UN head started condemning, while they never condemn the innocents killed by drone attacks !!!! some thing wrong at the bottom.They want to diverge International media attention from drone attacks,which was intensely mobilized by Imran Khan's PTI.
Thanks for your statement...but why didn't you issued statement when our soldiers were martyred at salala checkpost???
IT's unfortunate , however more unfortunate is that there are still some people who are terming it the result of Drone attacks or the American war of terror!!! As "Karim" has already commented very beautifully there is real need to critically analyse the root cause of these heinous crimes objectively and not emotionally succumbing to conspiracy theories!!!
MR. Ban ki moon and obama: what abt those killed in drones?
I would request US military to also agree to provide air ambulance and medical treatment at a facility suitable for the condition of Drone Victims of Waziristan as well.
@Karim - I could not agree more with you too. It amazed me that person like you are also there who can express their rational mind
Look at the people who condemn US President yet refrain from condemning Malala's attackers. Sad.
@Karim: Only few people have guts to denounce acts like this. Unfortunately most people at top in pak are either too scared or are Talban sympathesizers including Judges, politicians, journalists etc. Salman Taseer was one of the few. All realistic people should support Secular system which is the only way out.
One can expect a sronger earthquake, a real tsunami at the moment to teach lesson to such a ummat fighting for taliban ideology. Miracles not happen where Asheqane Rasool broke ATM machines and shot 40 bullets to rulers, hang , execute and airlift leaders. I am sure her mother s voice can break skies and real CHANGE may happen in few hours time. One must note: Both Obama, and Saud-Qatar regimes are shaing hands, signing deals with Taliban Commanders, Qatar allowed to give then refuge , on other side Saudi Qatar regimes sending and arming militais to topple Syrian regimes, attacking pilgrims from Balochistan, Taftan, Gilgit to Karbala to to Kazmain to Samarra to Syria to Libya....so I see blood of Malala on hands of Clinton Obama and Saudi malookiyat http://www.facebook.com/addfriend.php?id=100001254733995
@Karim: Well said!
It is excellent to see that the US and NATO countries are upset with the Taliban over its education policy towards female children. I wonder if they were upset when they recently killed thousands of female children in Iraq Afghanistan, Libya and Syria. I am only aware of a deathly silence. Pun not intended..
Totally disagree with the notion that Madrassas are behind this growing radicalism and intolerance in the country. The root cause is the official state policy of the Pakistan which on one hand is instrumental in the creation of radicals for advancing its foreign policy and domestic agenda, and other hand, it provides conducive environment by brainwashing general public through its school curriculum, media, and propagating a unique kind of history and narrative about its existence, which can easily be called as worst kind of distortion of history.
President Obama, please finish these Cowardly, Islam-exploiting Taliban off forever, please?
@Karim You are the first person to highlight the root cause of the extremism. I am surprised no one ever pointed out this about the brainwashing going on in madrasas where extremism is taught in the name of religion. First the madrasas need to be targeted before Taliban takes over the schools and along with the children.
How selective are you Mr President? Just remember that karma is a 5 lettered word.
incisive analysis. You might also like to think about the root cause of all this. It is the responsibility of the state to maintain harmony in public and discourage hate, because consequences of hate are far more damaging than one can realize when drowned in such emotions. Instead of building a society where there is harmony among people of all ethnicity and religious denominations, the state of Pakistan encouraged people not only to hate but document hate. A piece of legislation which did exponential harm to the country was brought about in 1974. The people of Pakistan were encouraged to hate and express their hate when filling forms to obtain documents like the ID card or passport. Individuals have every right not to consider a claimant to be a man of Allah, but to declare him an imposter is completely uncalled for and does no good to anybody. All it does is to ignite hate among human beings for which perhaps they didn’t even have any intention to invoke. It was imposed by the government, which forced ordinary people to mindless hatred. This environment became breeding ground of intolerant society and at its worse extremism; hence incidents like Salman Taseer and now dear Malalai, May Allah grant her speedy recovery and she may continue to live a life of substance that she embarked on as soon as she reached the age of two digits. Love you Malalai
totally strange. he never condemned the drone attacks. these malala like incidents and worse happens all the time all over the world but without any condemnation from these people. im now 100 percent sure that its not the taliban who have done it but there is a deeper rotten hidden information which is not given to the public. why dont they release our sister Afia siddiqi. these condemnation is totally propaganda. and what saddens me more is when i read that people are thanking obama and others for the condemnation. which world are they from?. get out from your homes and see how ordinally people lives.
@Karim
Your is one of the most honest introspective posts I have read. The first step to overcome any challenge is to be honest to oneself. If more people thought like you and had this young girl's fortitude, Pakistan still may have a chance.
what about all the kids being murdered by their government in syria??
@Karim: Well said. Totally agree.
Mr president,please continue drone strikes.This is only option left to wipe out this menace from planet earth.
@Karim: Beautifully expressed. I could not agree with you more. Unfortunately the Taliban was originated by Benazir Bhutto, not realising that it would turn on its own creators. They are true fanatics, as the famous Spanish American philosopher once stated ..."fanaticism consists in redoubling your efforts when you have forgotten your aim..." They bring disrepute to Islam.
thnx mr president
Mr Obama lets have a joint operation again Talibans ,.. enough is enough .
@Karim: A very knowledgeable man, who is not afraid to speak his mind. Thank you Sir.
Thanks a lot Mr president for the concern for Malala and for assistance that is offered.
I thought so. Preplanned, the ones who planned the attack wanted to keep on drone.
We Pakistanis rant and rave about “foriegn conspiracies” by India, US and Israel. If we objectively look at the menace of talibans and their twisted version of Islam, then with one voice we must condemn Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Qatar, these are the “foreign conspirators”. These countries were initially responsible for transporting this sickening interpretation of a peaceful religion. We should get rid of all influence by wahabi Islam and cut ties with all arab counties that follow this version of Islam. My own uncle who moved to Saudi Arabia changed so much over the past years, his views have become extremist and it is visible how that happened. No matter what price we have to pay as a country, no “petro-dollars” are worth this degradation of our country. Special laws should be passed against preaching and practicing this version of Islam and someone should ask Mr. Chief justice to take suo moto notice against the madrassas that teach and spread this venom. If this young girl can take a bullet than our judges and political leaders should take some risks also. All these idiots were out on street to protest a silly movie, why Pakistanis are not out on street protesting this in full force. They should come out in force and burn Taliban madrassas and their hide-outs. Today a daughter of our nation was targeted, and if we don't stand up for her our own daughters will be targeted tomorrow and we will just watch. Till when will the Army refuse to go into certain parts because "it is too dangerous" or is it because they have a vested interest in Kashmir through these bigots. A complete purge of extremists and their sympathizers is needed if we are to survive as a state, and a nation. Otherwise the day isn't far we might be referred to as Wahabi Republic of Taliban.
yes president Obama just send your troops plz and finish this menace...
Ironic coming from a man responsible for killing hundreds of children with drone strikes.