Standing up for Pakistani school girl shot by Taliban

Oct. 10, 2012, 2:04 PM EDT

By PhotoBlog

Pakistani school girls pray for the recovery of gunshot victim, Malala Yousufzai, in Multan on Oct. 10. Pakistani doctors removed a bullet from a 14-year-old child campaigner shot by the Taliban in a horrific attack condemned by national leaders and rights activists. The attack took place in Mingora, the main town of the Swat Valley in Pakistan's northwest, where Malala had campaigned for the right to an education during a two-year Taliban insurgency which the army said it had crushed in 2009.S.S Mirza / AFP - Getty Images

By Mushtaq Yusufzai, NBC News

As a shocked Pakistan prayed for her recovery, Malala Yousufzai, the 15-year-old Pakistani girl shot by the Taliban for writing a blog about daily life in the war-torn Swat Valley, was still in a critical condition Wednesday after surgery to remove a bullet, her surgeon told NBC News.

The shooting drew a huge outpouring of reaction across Pakistan. The front pages of national newspapers carried pictures of a bandaged and bloody Yousufzai being brought to hospital. "Hate targets hope" the Express Tribune said in a headline.

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.

"Pakistan's future belongs to Malala and brave young girls like her. History won't remember the cowards who tried to kill her at school," Susan Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, said on Twitter.

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Pakistani civil society activists carry placards and papers with a photograph of the gunshot victim Malala Yousufzai during a protest rally against the assassination attempt, in Islamabad on Oct. 10.Aamir Qureshi / AFP - Getty Images

Pakistani people hold placards and candles as they pray for the well-being of Malala Yousufzai, in Lahore, Pakistan, Oct. 10. Gunmen ambushed a van carrying Malala Yousafzai and several of her schoolmates on Oct. 9 in the Swat Valley's main town of Mingora. Pakistan awarded her the first-ever National Peace Award last year in recognition for her struggle for girls education, which the Taliban banned after seizing control of the Swat valley. She was also nominated for the International Children's Peace Prize.Rahat Dar / EPA

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Images of daily life, political pursuits, religious rites and deadly violence.Arshad Arbab / EPA

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