Pakistani girls return to school

I will definitely miss Malala: Kainat

PESHAWAR, Pakistan, Dec 1, (RTRS): Two Pakistani girls shot by a Taleban hit squad trying to kill their classmate, Malala Yousufzai, returned to school on Thursday under tight security.

A gunman attacked Yousufzai, who campaigned for girls’ education despite threats from the Taliban, on Oct 9 as she was leaving school in Pakistan’s Swat valley. She was wounded in the head and her two school friends were also wounded.

The shooting provoked widespread outrage and brought Yousufzai, who is recovering in a British hospital, international admiration for her campaigning.

On Thursday, police escorted her teenaged classmates, Kainat Riaz and Shazia Ramazan, back to school. “I am very excited to resume my studies once again in the school, but I will definitely miss Malala,” Kainat, who was shot in the arm, told Reuters. The two girls will have security escorts indefinitely, police said.

The attack on Malala, 15, followed years of campaigning that had pitted the girl against one of Pakistan’s most ruthless Taleban commanders, known as Maulana Fazlullah.

Fazlullah and his men took over the Swat Valley and blew up girls’ schools and publicly executed those they deemed immoral or tried to stand up to them. Eventually, the army launched an offensive to drive the militants out. Though Fazlullah and his men have fled over the mountains, Swat remains tense and it seems inconceivable that Malala, who has become a symbol of resistance to Taleban efforts to deny women education, will be able to go home and back to school. Indian Naga tribesmen perform on the first day of the Hornbill Festival at Kisama, some 15 kms away from Kohima, the capital city of India, north eastern state of Nagaland on Dec 1. The week long Hornbill Festival of Nagaland, which celebrates the cultural heritage

of the sixteen Naga tribes, runs annually from Dec 1-7. (AFP)