Tehreek Taliban Pakistan has reportedly warned to target media offices and staff across Pakistan due to the 'sympathy' shown in coverage of the coward attack on teenage girls' education activist Malala Yousafzai. The incident has provoked public reaction and protest demonstrations have been held against Taliban, with some demanding action against them.
TTP says they will target anyone who shows sympathy for Malala.
She is still in critical condition and unconscious. After the bullet was taken out, she has been moved to another military hospital in Rawalpindi.
Details of the attack are now emerging. Reportedly, Mullah Fazlullah had sent special hit squad to target the young activist. Also known as Mullah Radio for his FM-broadcast, the feared Taliban commander escaped Swat in 2009 after Pakistani military operation.
Islamabad has claimed in the past that Fazlullah is operating from Nuristan. They had asked ISAF and Afghan Forces to launch operation in his hideouts. ISAF has not taken a clear stance on this claim of Pakistani officials. They should either confirm and launch an operation against the monster, or ask for location proof from Islamabad.
President Karzai called President Zardari and condemned the attack on Malala saying such attacks which are routine in Afghanistan is on rise in Pakistan now. He told Zardari that remaining indifferent to militants and terrorism will cost future of both countries with great perils.
Despite the public reaction and widespread anger against Taliban after this attack, mainstream Pakistani political parties have been reluctant in openly naming Taliban militants.
They prefer using words like extremists, rather than being clear to their nation. Even Pakistan Army in a strongly-worded condemnation statement avoided naming the Taliban. Imran Khan the leader of a mainstream political party Pakistan Tehreek Insaaf talking in the aftermath of attack on Malala has said the Taliban insurgency in Afghanistan is Jihad. This mentality of hypocrisy and two-facedness has led our neighbor to the edge of self-inflecting cancer. The monsters who kill our Malalas are fighting Jihad, while the ones in their country are terrorists.
Pakistani leadership, military and media need to change this mentality if they want to root out militancy and the widespread plague extremism from the country.
The coward attack on Malala undermines the claims of Pakistan Army saying they have defeated militants from areas like Swat, while ignoring the same elements who kill our Malalas in Afghanistan operating from their safe havens in North Waziristan and other parts of Pakistan. It is high time Pakistan Army launch an operation in North Waziristan and make a breakthrough with the policy of 'good Taliban' and 'bad Taliban'.