By Reuters

Published: Thursday, October 11, 2012, 9:21 p.m.
Updated: Tuesday, February 19, 2013

PESHAWAR, Pakistan — A Pakistani schoolgirl fighting for her life upon being shot by the Taliban for campaigning for education rights and speaking out against the militants was transferred on Thursday from a hospital in a province that is a militant haven to a specialist hospital in the army garrison town of Rawalpindi.

Malala Yousufzai, 14, was unconscious in critical condition because gunmen shot her in the head and neck as she left school on Tuesday, but doctors said she had moved her arms and legs slightly the night before.

Pakistani surgeons removed a bullet on Wednesday from Yousufzai.

Her courage made her a national hero.

The shooting has drawn condemnation from world leaders and many Pakistanis.

Yousufzai began standing up to the Pakistani Taliban when she was 11, when the government had effectively ceded control of the Swat Valley, where she lives, to the Taliban.

Her father, Ziauddin Yousufzai, who runs a girls' school, said his daughter had defied threats for years, believing the good work she was doing for her community was her best protection.

A Reuters correspondent watched as she was moved from an army hospital in the regional capital of Peshawar to the Armed Forces Institute of Cardiology in Rawalpindi to help her treatment.

“Pray for her,” her distraught uncle, Faiz Mohammad, said before the ambulance left the hospital.

1. Steelers’ Polamalu trim, fit as he arrives for OTAs
2. Steelers quarterback Roethlisberger likes the revamped offense
3. Penguins Insider: Time is right for Jokinen’s return
4. Kovacevic: Pens improve under microscope
5. Steelers notebook: Less talk, more work is Tomlin’s theme
6. Pirates notebook: Penguins jerseys in fashion for road trip
7. FBI: Man fatally shot in Boston bombing probe
8. Peduto secures Democratic nomination for Pittsburgh mayor
9. Neal’s solid play soon could pay off on scoresheet for Penguins
10. Bilik DeFazio leads race for Westmoreland County judge on both ballots
11. Penguins notebook: Morrow leaves practice with injury

There are currently no comments for this story.
Subscribe today! Click here for our subscription offers.