to move up and down
Pakistani surgeons remove bullet from 14-year-old Malala Yousafzai, but Taliban threaten to ‘finish this chapter’
Pakistani surgeons removed a bullet on Wednesday from a 14-year-old girl shot by the Taliban for speaking out against the militants and promoting education for girls, doctors said.
Malala Yousafzai was in critical condition after gunmen shot her in the head and neck on Tuesday as she left school. Two other girls were also wounded.
Yousafzai began writing a blog when she was just 11 under the pseudonym Gul Makai for the BBC about life under the Taliban, and began speaking out publicly in 2009 about the need for girls’ education — which the Taliban strongly opposes. The extremist movement was quick to claim responsibility for shooting her.
“This was a new chapter of obscenity, and we have to finish this chapter,” Taliban spokesman Ahsanullah Ahsan by telephone. (Reuters)
Pakistan gunmen shoot 14-year-old girl in the head for speaking out against Taliban
PESHAWAR, Pakistan — Gunmen in Pakistan shot and seriously wounded on Tuesday a 14-year-old schoolgirl who rose to fame for speaking out against Taliban militants, authorities said.
Malala Yousufzai was shot in the head and neck when gunmen fired on her school bus in the Swat valley, northwest of the capital, Islamabad. Two other girls were also wounded, police said.
Yousufzai became famous for speaking out against the Pakistani Taliban at a time when even the government seemed to be appeasing the hardline Islamists.
Protesters torch theatres, clash with riot police on Pakistan’s ‘Day of Love’ for Muhammad
ISLAMABAD — Demonstrators clashed with police in the Pakistani city of Peshawar on Friday as anger over insults to the Prophet Muhammad boiled over despite calls from political and religious leaders across the Muslim world for peaceful protest.
Western diplomatic missions throughout the Muslim world tightened security, with some closing down on expectation of big protests after Friday prayers.
Pakistan has declared Friday a “Day of Love for the Prophet Muhammad.” Critics of the unpopular government said it was pandering to Islamist parties. (Photos: AP Photo; AFP/Getty Images; Reuters)
Jonathan Kay: Time to call Pakistan what it is — a state supporter of terrorism
Here in the West, the killing of Osama Bin Laden was considered a triumph. In Pakistan, where the al-Qaeda leader lived out his final years, attitudes are very different: On Wednesday, a Pakistani court brought down a guilty verdict against the Pakistani doctor who helped the CIA locate bin Laden in May, 2011. Having been convicted of treason, Shakil Afridi now faces a 33-year prison sentence.
Each story like this brings fresh evidence that Pakistan, a nominal Western ally in the war on terrorism, actually is doing more to enable the jihadis than fight them. We don’t yet have definitive evidence to suggest that the Pakistani military and intelligence establishment was actively housing and protecting bin Laden in the garrison town of Abbottabad. But that certainly would have been in keeping with long-standing Pakistani policies.
All for nothing? Pakistan-backed Taliban poised to reclaim Afghanistan upon NATO’s exit
The U.S. military said in a secret report that the Taliban, backed by Pakistan, are set to retake control of Afghanistan after NATO-led forces withdraw, raising the prospect of a major failure of Western policy after a costly war.
Lieutenant Colonel Jimmie Cummings, a spokesman for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force, confirmed the existence of the document, reported on Wednesday by Britain’s Times newspaper and the BBC.
But he said it was not a strategic study.
“The classified document in question is a compilation of Taliban detainee opinions,” he said. “It’s not an analysis, nor is it meant to be considered an analysis.”
Nevertheless, it could be interpreted as a damning assessment of the war, dragging into its 11th year and aimed at blocking a Taliban return to power.
It could also be seen as an admission of defeat and could reinforce the view of Taliban hardliners that they should not negotiate with the United States and President Hamid Karzai’s unpopular government while in a position of strength. (Photo: Mohammad Shoiab/Reuters)
25 of the most dramatic conflict and crisis photos of 2011
As 2011 draws to a close, the Post’s photo department takes a look back at the year in photos. (Photo: Banaras Khan/AFP/Getty Images)
Photos of the day
A Pakistani man looks at the burning NATO supply oil tankers and goods trucks at a terminal following an attack by gunmen in Quetta on December 8, 2011. Up to 20 trucks were ablaze after a rocket attack on a NATO trucking terminal. (BANARAS KHAN/AFP/Getty Images)
Pakistani actress Veena Malik sues FHM over ‘morphed’ nude cover photo
A popular Pakistani actress has accused an Indian men’s magazine of doctoring photos to make her appear naked.
Veena Malik filed a defamation suit against FHM India over the controversial cover photo of her posing nude with the initials of Pakistan’s intelligence agency on her arm.
She is seeking 100 million rupees ($2 million) in damages from the magazine, whose editor insists the cover shoot was genuine and consensual. (Photo: fhmindia.com)
Pakistan threatens lack of cooperation after deadly, ‘unprovoked’ NATO strike
Pakistan ratcheted up pressure on NATO on Monday over a cross-border attack that killed 24 Pakistani soldiers at the weekend, threatening to drastically reduce cooperation on peace efforts in Afghanistan.
The incident has hurt Washington’s efforts both to ease a crisis in relations with Islamabad and stabilize the region as it tries to wind down the war in Afghanistan.
“This could have serious consequences in the level and extent of our cooperation,” military spokesman Major General Athar Abbas told Reuters.
Photos of the day
A boy plays in the mud near the Ravi river after a downpour on the outskirts of Lahore, Pakistan, Aug. 24, 2011. (Mohsin Raza/Reuters)
Photos of the day
Smoke and flame rise from burning oil tankers on the highway near Kolpur village, Pakistan on August 22, 2011. Gunmen set ablaze at least 19 oil tankers carrying fuel for NATO forces in neighbouring Afghanistan, officials said.
Photos of the day
Men retreat as a fireball rises from tankers which were carrying fuel for NATO forces in Afghanistan, as they explode after being attacked on the outskirts of Quetta, Pakistan, August 19, 2011. Five NATO trucks have been set on fire in Mastung in the province of Baluchistan. Gunmen attacked and then set fire to the trucks, carrying fuel to NATO troops in Afghanistan, security officials said. There are no reported casualties. (Naseer Ahmed/Reuters)
Photos of the day
A young Afghan refugee holds a water bottle at The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees registration centre on the outskirts of Peshawar on June 20, 2011, prior to returning to Afghanistan, after fleeing civil war and Taliban rule. (A. Majeed/AFP/Getty Images)
Trouble in the skies
It’s been a turbulent, and surprisingly political, year for competitive kite fliers in Toronto, who have brought the popular South Asian and East Asian pastime of duels in the sky to city parks. After years of quietly tangling with opponents and slicing each others’ strings, the kite fighters made headlines last August when Councillor Chin Lee exposed the dangerous side of a seemingly inoffensive activity, its leftover twine strewn all over Scarborough’s Milliken Park, neighbouring homes and schoolyards. Having seen photos of how the nylon string, coated with glass fragments, injures wildlife, Mr. Lee’s concerns led the city to ban kite flying altogether in Milliken Park, unleashing the scorn of kite enthusiasts across the city.
City staff are now floating new regulations that differentiate between “kite fighting,” which uses abrasive string, and “competitive kite flying,” which employs a biodegradable, cotton string. The proposal is to ban the hazardous material used in the former, while issuing permits for the latter, and restricting it to certain of sites.
Canada among most peaceful nations in the world: report
Canada is once again among the Top 10 most peaceful countries in the world, according to a global survey.
The Institute for Economics and Peace, an international research body, says in its 2011 Global Peace Index that Canada is the eighth most peaceful country in the world in which to live, out of 153 countries measured.
Warmer foreign relations and a decrease to the lowest possible level on what the institute calls the “political terror scale”— a measure of a nation’s respect for human rights — all contributed to Canada’s position in the survey.
