Attack on Malala Yousafzai widely condemned

Political and religio-political leaders have denounced the attack on Malala Yousafzai that took place in Mangora on Tuesday when she along with her class fellows was on the way home from school in a van.PML-N President Nawaz Sharif and Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif have condemned in strongest words the attack on the young peace activist and educationalist and her companions.Nawaz Sharif said that the courage and boldness of Malala gave Pakistan a new recognition in the world, and the nation rightly felt proud of her pursuits for humanity. Malala, he added, beyond any doubt was identified in the world as Pakistan’s Ambassador of Peace and a fighter against obscurantism. The PML-N president said the whole nation stood with Malala and her mission for the accomplishment of which any assistance would be provided. He also talked to Malala’s brother on phone and offered to bear all expenses of her treatment abroad.While praying for the earliest recovery of Malala and her class fellows injured in the incident, the PML-N chief said the torch the young activist lit to end the darkness of ignorance and make the country a peaceful place would not be put out by this dastardly act of the miscreants.Shahbaz Sharif has asked all party leaders and members to pray for the precious life and well-being of the nation’s daughter Malala Yousafzai. “I am immensely sad and worried to know that my brilliant daughter Malala has suffered bullet injuries,” he said.“When I had invited her in last November as a special guest for the prize distribution ceremony in honour of position holders, I had said: ‘No one can stop a nation from achieving its destination that has brave daughters like Malala’,” the Punjab chief minister maintained.He said the criminals behind this dastardly attack could neither be Muslims nor Pakistanis. “We need to find out who are the ones wanting to push our country into chaos and anarchy by orchestrating and then exploiting such worrisome incidents,” Shahbaz pointed out. Jamaat-e-Islami Ameer Syed Munawar Hasan and Secretary General Liaqat Baloch also strongly condemned the attack on Malala Yousafzai on Tuesday and prayed for her early recovery.Punjab Assembly Speaker Rana Muhammad Iqbal Khan also condemned the life attempt on Malala Yousafzai on Tuesday and prayed for her early recovery. He called for tracking down the attackers and awarding them exemplary punishment for the offence of making life attempt on a shining star of the country. PTI Chairman Imran Khan, President Javed Hashmi Vice Chairman Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Secretary General Dr Arif Alvi and Information secretary Shafqat Mahmood strongly condemned on Tuesday the attack on school van carrying Pakistan’s youngest peace award winner Malala Yousafzai.“The PTI condemns those perpetrating terror attacks and believes that sheer lack of concern regarding the law and order situation by the current government resulted in this incident. The party calls for a thorough investigation into the matter, besides providing the best possible treatment to this brave girl and the others injured in the attack,” they said in a statement.“Malala had been receiving threats to her life but the government did not take the required steps to address the issue.