Post date: Oct 13, 2012 3:3:33 PM
Hundreds of Afghan schoolgirls in Herat express their support for wounded Pakistani girl activist Malala Yousufzai.
HERAT, AFGHANISTAN (OCTOBER 13, 2012) (REUTERS) - Around 500 Afghan schoolgirls rallied to show their support for wounded 14-year-old Pakistani activist Malala Yousufzai on Saturday (October 13) after she was shot by the Taliban earlier in the week.
The teenagers gathered at a high school in western Heart province and chanted "We support Malala!" and "We want the Pakistan government to arrest the perpetrators!"."Today we have gathered here to support the Pakistani girl Malala and condemn this brutal act of Taliban," said Larina Ahmadai, 17, one of the rally participants.
"We support Malala Yousufzai and ask the Pakistani government to stop such crimes and arrest the perpetrators," said Madeena Qashang, 16.
Yousufzai was shot and seriously wounded on Tuesday (October 9) as she was leaving her school in her hometown in the Swat valley, northwest of the Pakistani capital,Islamabad.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the attack and said her promotion of education for girls was pro-Western and she had opposed them.
Yousufzai began standing up to the Pakistani Taliban when she was just 11, when the government had effectively ceded control of the Swat Valley where she lives to the militants.
Pakistan's president, prime minister, and heads of various opposition parties joined human rights group Amnesty International and the United Nations in condemning the attack.