Internews

Islamabad

Malala Yousufzai’s father Ziauddin Yousufzai welcomed Pakistan army’s confirmation that 10 Taliban members involved in attacking his daughter, who now lives in Birmingham, have been arrested.

After ISPR’s confirmation at a live press conference, Ziauddin expressed joy on behalf of his family and confirmed that he had also spoken to ISPR’s Asim Bajwa and thanked him for releasing the good news.

It is understood that Malala was in school when the news was broken that her Talbin attackers have been arrested. Ziauddin said this was good news not only for Malala, Kainat and Shazia and their families but also “for the people of Pakistan and the civilised world”.

He paid tributes to Pakistan army, police forces and other law enforcement agencies for persistently chasing the attackers of Malala and arresting them. “We are proud of their role.

They have worked hard to chase the outlaws who have brought destruction and bloodshed to the people of Pakistan.

The arrest of these attackers will help improve Pakistan’s image abroad as a country where institutions work and where criminals are punished. It will help increase the trust level in Pakistan and we are very happy.”

He said that there are thousands of victims of Taliban who will receive justice too and any one who is involved in terror attacks will be brought to justice.

Ziauddin said he was aware that some people didn’t even believe that Malala was ever attacked by Taliban and called it a “drama”. He said the confirmation of the arrests would put to rest the doubts and conspiracy theories of these people.

Separately, Amnesty International said in a statement from London that arrest of the suspects in the assassination attempt on Malala Yousafzai “offers an important opportunity for the authorities to address their poor record in protecting human rights defenders in Pakistan”.

“By her words and deeds, the brave education rights activist Malala Yousafzai proved that the pen is indeed mightier than the sword,” said Mustafa Qadri, Amnesty International’s Pakistan Researcher.

“But human rights defenders promoting the rights of women and girls in her native Swat and across Pakistan remain especially at risk of deadly attacks and other abuse from the Taliban and other groups, not least because of the authorities’ continued failure to hold the perpetrators to account.

“Human rights defenders play a critical role in promoting the rights of everyone in Pakistan society. With the world watching, it is critical that Pakistan seizes this opportunity to demonstrate its commitment to human rights, justice and rule of law.”

“The arrested men must be treated humanely at all times. If there is credible, admissible evidence against them they should be brought to trial in proceedings which meet international standards of fairness and without recourse to the death penalty,” said Mustafa Qadri.