The shooting of 14-year-old Malala
Yousafzai, who campaigned for the right to an education, has been denounced
worldwide and by the Pakistani authorities, who have offered a reward of more
than $100,000 for the capture of her attackers.
"(The)
health condition of Malala continues to remain satisfactory. Her vitals are
okay and she is still on ventilator," the military said in an update.
"A board of doctors is continuously monitoring her condition," it
added.
Prime Minister
Raja Pervez Ashraf visited Malala on Friday, paying tribute to her and two
friends who were also wounded when a gunman boarded their school bus on Tuesday
and opened fire.
"It was not
a crime against an individual but a crime against humanity and an attack on our
national and social values," he told reporters, pledging renewed vigour in
Pakistan's struggle with Islamist militancy.
Military
spokesman Major General Asim Saleem Bajwa Friday said the next 36 to 48 hours
would be critical for Malala. The attack has sickened Pakistan, where Malala
won international prominence with a blog for the BBC that highlighted
atrocities under the Taliban who terrorised the Swat valley from 2007 until a
2009 army offensive.
Activists say the
shooting should be a wake-up call to those who advocate appeasement with the
Taliban, but analysts suspect there will be no seismic shift in a country that
has sponsored radical Islam for decades. Schools opened with prayers for Malala
on Friday and special prayers were held at mosques across the country for her
speedy recovery at the country's top military hospital in the city of
Rawalpindi.
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