Malala Yousufzai and Naive Imran Khan.

Malala along with three other schoolmates sustained bullet injuries when some unknown assailants opened fire on their school van in Mingora early in the day. Later, she was shifted to CMH Peshawar. Pakistani Taliban have taken responsibility for attacking Malala Yousufzai, who with another girl was injured in the attack on their school van in Swat on Tuesday. Speaking to Dawn.com’s correspondent Zahir Shah Sherazi from an undisclosed location, Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan said that the TTP accepts responsibility of the attack as Malala was propagating anti-Taliban and ‘secular’ thoughts among the youth of the area. A team of senior doctors late Tuesday completed her medical examination in a combined military hospital (CMH) and stated her condition as critical. “We have thoroughly examined her, she is in critical condition. The bullet travelled from her head and then lodged in the back shoulder, near the neck,” a doctor in the CMH told AFP, requesting anonymity as he was not authorised to talk to media. “Next three to four days are important for her life. She is in the intensive care unit and semi-conscious, although not on the ventilator,” he said. Malala was returning home from her school in Swat’s Mingora area when her van was attacked by the gunmen. Certain media outlets reported that the gunmen attacked the van on identifying the young children’s rights activist. Sources said Malala was hit by couple of bullets to her neck and head. Both injured girls were taken to the Saidu Sharif Hospital. According to doctors, Malala was now out of danger. However, Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf has ordered to shift her to a Peshawar hospital swiftly through a helicopter. The prime minister has strongly condemned the incident. The incident spread fear and panic among the local residents. Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Information Minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain confirmed the shooting and blamed the attack on terrorists. Yousafzai is 15 years of age and has already earned international fame for raising voice against Taliban oppression in Swat. She was honoured with a first ever National Peace by the government and was nominated for the International Children’s Peace Prize by advocacy group KidsRights Foundation in 2011 for being an inspiration to her friends by standing up against repression as her namesake did in Afghanistan in the 19th century. REFERENCE: Malala Yousufzai to be provided best medical treatment: Zardari http://dawn.com/2012/10/09/malala-yousufzai-injured-in-gun-attack-on-school-van-in-swat/ Bravery, thy name is Malala Jamal Shahid 21st December, 2011 http://dawn.com/2011/12/21/bravery-thy-name-is-malala-2/

2009:  Imran says he got positive response from Taliban Ansar Abbasi Friday, December 11, 2009 ISLAMABAD: Pakistan Tehrik-e-Insaaf chief Imran Khan, who on Wednesday offered his services and even showed the willingness to go to the tribal areas to get the mounting terrorism issue resolved through political dialogue, got encouraging response from the Taliban side. His appeal, however, seems to have fallen on the governmentís deaf ears. The cricket hero-turned-social worker, Imran Khan, told The News on Thursday that after his Wednesday’s press conference, he was contacted by some important Taliban groups, who posed their full confidence in him for political solution of the problem. Khan said that no one from the government side contacted him though. Imran Khan on Wednesday volunteered to mediate between the government and the Taliban leadership to bring peace, claiming that the menace of terrorism was bound to grow because of the military operation in South Waziristan and in the absence of a political solution. In his press conference, he had said that if the government gave him the mandate, he was willing to travel to the tribal areas and elsewhere to negotiate peace. His only pre-condition to mediation between the two sides was that the government would not let the US-pressure to ruin his peace efforts like the past. While some people believe the government has no political strategy to address the issue and is entirely dependent on the military operation that has allegedly aggravated the problem, Imran has taken a bold step amidst great chances that he would be dubbed pro-Taliban by confused Pakistanis and arrogant foreigners. Imran Khan got an encouraging reaction from some Taliban leaders. Khan said that he was now even considering convening an all parties conference (APC) on the issue. Jamaat-e-Islami and Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (Fazlur Rehman Group) are also opposed to the military operation and seek a political solution to the problem by revisiting Pakistanís policy on the US war on terror, formulating an independent foreign policy and bringing an immediate halt to the military operation in the tribal areas, particularly South Waziristan. Although, Maulana Fazlur Rehman is not appearing in the media these days, Jamaat-e-Islami chief Professor Munawar Hasan has become vocal in his opposition to the military operation. Interestingly, the PML-N is also not supportive of the present military operation but it lacks the guts to public its demand a political solution to terrorism. However, the party is not making its views public amid reports that it does not want to irritate Washington that is today quite pleased with the party and its top leadership. In this situation, Imran Khanís daring initiative to do what others are shy to do, is expected to bring pressure on all other pro-dialogue parties, including the PML-N, the JI and the JUI(F) to sit together and chalk out a strategy where the government could be pressurised to save its innocents, whether in the tribal areas or in settled areas of Pakistan from being killed. REFERENCE: Imran says he got positive response from Taliban Ansar Abbasi Friday, December 11, 2009 http://www.thenews.com.pk/TodaysPrintDetail.aspx?ID=212671&Cat=2&dt=12%2F11%2F2009

APC: PTI to grill govt over Swat operation : LAHORE, May 17 Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf Chairman Imran Khan says the government will be quizzed at an all-party conference being held in Islamabad on Monday (today) why it considered Swat operation inevitable without trying dialogue to restore peace in the restive valley. Talking to reporters after visiting a relief camp set up for collecting donations for the Swat displaced people here on Sunday, Mr Khan said army operations had deteriorated situations in Waziristan, Swat, Lal Masjid and Balochistan. He said the Lal Masjid action could have been averted by forcing the people holed up there to come out through severing power and water supplies. He said despite efforts by some political figures, the army raided the mosque leaving scores of “innocent” people killed. Similarly, he said, the government said that there was no option but to find a military solution to the Swat militancy just 12 days after the implementation of the Nizam-i-Adl Regulation there. “We`ll ask in the conference what made the government to go for the extreme measure and that too at a time when President Zardari was visiting US President Obama.” Khan said before demanding an end to the army action, the government would be asked to explain how the extremists succeeded in their plan there. For, he said, he considered the displacement of two million people from the area a success of the extremists. The PTI chairman said there were rare instances in which cannons and gunship helicopters were used by a government against its own people. He said his party was neither with the Taliban or extremists who were cutting jugular veins of army men nor with those who were taking army action in Swat. About a US senator`s claim that drone attacks were undertaken with the permission of Islamabad, Khan said the rulers must inform the nation of the reality. He said that if proved that drone attacks were being undertaken with the permission of the government, any citizen could move a court of law against the rulers. He said the PTI worked for provision of relief to the displaced people as soon it would set up its camps in Noshera as some were already functioning in Mardan and Swabi. REFERENCE: APC: PTI to grill govt over Swat operation http://archives.dawn.com/archives/139125

MINGORA: Militants publicly hang body of opponent : MINGORA, Dec 15 The Swat Taliban publicly hung the body of Pir Samiullah and executed his two key commanders at the Gwalerai Chowk in the restive Swat valley on Monday. The militants exhumed the body of Pir Samiullah from his native town Charma, a hilly area, on Sunday to confirm his death. They hung it at the Gwalerai Chowk in the Matta tehsil. The body was later shifted to an unspecified place. Taliban spokesman Muslim Khan said two of Pir Samiullah`s key commanders were also executed at the chowk. “Forty of the hostages were forgiven and would be freed tomorrow (Tuesday), while the fate of the rest would be decided after the Taliban Shura meeting,” he said. Pir Samiullah and his eight followers had been killed after fierce gun battle with militants in the Swat valley on Sunday. The fresh fighting erupted after what the Taliban called a hand grenade attack on the house of a local Taliban commander by the Pir`s men. Pir Samiullah was a staunch opponent of Taliban activities and was the first notable who had formed a tribal lashkar to flush militants out of the region. The militants also torched the house and hujra of Pir Samiullah after occupying the Mandal Dag area. They also set on fire the houses of 15 elders of the area who were active supporters of the Pir. The search operation by the Taliban continued in Mandal Dag and its surrounding areas on Monday, sources said, adding that most of Pir`s supporters had gone underground.The Taliban, they said, had now taken control of about 80 per cent of Swat and the government`s writ had reduced only to Mingora and its surroundings. Differences between the Taliban and Pir Samiullah emerged after militants made a failed attempt to kidnap the religious and spiritual figure, who had his own circle of followers and admirers in the region. Several people were killed from both sides in the clash about two months ago. Local people said Pir Samiullah was the only potential rival of Maulana Fazlullah. The Pir had succeeded in his efforts to gather elders of the region to establish a lashkar to resist the Taliban movement. SERVANT QUARTERS TORCHED Fifteen abandoned servant quarters of ANP leader Afzal Khan Lala were set on fire by suspected militants in Drushkhela, Matta tehsil, on Monday.Afzal Khan Lala is still residing in the volatile Swat valley despite several failed attempts on his life in the past. REFERENCE: MINGORA: Militants publicly hang body of opponent By Our Correspondent http://archives.dawn.com/archives/158780