NEW YORK - Former US First Lady Laura Bush on Thursday joined major American newspapers in condemning the attack on the “brave” Pakistani peace and education activist Malala Yousufzai, and called for stepping up efforts to end the Taliban’s “vicious” campaign against girls.
“Malala inspires us because she had the courage to defy the totalitarian mind-set others would have imposed on her. Her life represents a brighter future for Pakistan and the region,” Ms. Bush, who was an educationist, wrote in an opinion piece in The Washington Post, which also carried an editorial on the issue.
“We must speak up before these acts occur, work to ensure that they do not happen again, and keep our courage to continue to resist the ongoing cruelty and barbarism of the Taliban. Malala Yousafzai refused to look the other way. We owe it to her courage and sacrifice to do the same,” she added.
Ms. Bush’s comments followed US President Barack Obama’s strong denunciation of the shooting of Malala by a Taliban militant. UN chief Ban Ki-moon also expressed horror at the attack.
White House spokesman Jay Carney said US forces were ready to offer transport and treatment to Malala if needed. Obama believed the shooting was “reprehensible and disgusting and tragic”, Carney said. In an editorial, The New York Times said, “If Pakistan has a future, it is embodied in Malala Yousafzai,” while noting that the Taliban have destroyed more than 200 schools in recent years.
“The murderous violence against one girl was committed against the whole of Pakistani society,” the newspaper said. “Pakistan’s founder, (Quaid-e-Azam) Muhammad Ali Jinnah, envisioned a democratic and moderate Muslim nation. But extremism is engulfing the country, and too many people are enabling it or acquiescing to it,” the Times said, adding, “this attack was so abominable, however, that Pakistanis across the ideological spectrum reacted with outrage, starting with President Asif Ali Zardari and Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf.“
“The Taliban cannot be allowed to win this vicious campaign against girls, learning and tolerance. Otherwise, there is no future for that nation,” it added.
Meanwhile, in a dispatch from Karachi, the Times said, “Pakistanis from across the political and religious spectrum united in revulsion at the attack on the 14-year-old education rights campaigner.” “Across the rest of the country, Pakistanis reacted with outrage to the attack on the girl, whose eloquent and determined advocacy of girls education had made her a powerful symbol of resistance to Taliban ideology,” the dispatch said.
The paper noted that the Army Chief, Gen. Ashfaq Parvez Kayani, visited the Peshawar hospital where Malala Yousafzai was being treated; in a rare public statement he condemned the “twisted ideology” of the “cowards” who had attacked her.
The Washington Post said in an editorial, “The Taliban struck this brave youngster at least in part because it knows that she may represent the wave of the future. She enjoyed significant popularity in Pakistan, as shown by the condemnation that rained down on the Taliban from the highest levels of the government and from the country’s media.”