Washington: Condemning Taliban`s attack on 14-year-old Malala Yousufzai in Pakistan, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Wednesday said that the young girl has been "very brave" in standing up for the rights of girls.
Malala is fighting for her life after she was attacked by the local Taliban in Swat a day earlier.
"She has been very brave in standing up for the rights of girls in the area where she comes from in Pakistan," Clinton said at a State Department event.
"I want to say a few words about a 14-year-old young woman, Malala Yousufzai, who lives in Pakistan, who has been active in speaking out for the right of girls to get an education. She`s even blogged about it. And she has been very brave in standing up for the rights of girls in the area where she comes from in Pakistan," Clinton said.
"Yesterday, you may have seen in the news, she was attacked and shot by extremists who don`t want girls to have an education and don`t want girls to speak for themselves and don`t want girls to become leaders, who are for a variety of reasons threatened by that kind of empowerment," Clinton said.
"And so they shot Malala, and she`s in critical condition," Clinton said at the 100th Anniversary of the Girl Scouts in the US.
"I think we should be dedicating our efforts to brave young women, some of whose names we will know and some we will never know, who struggle against tradition and culture and even outright hostility and sometimes violence to pursue their hopes, their God-given potential, to have a life of meaning and purpose and make contributions to their families, their communities, their countries and the world," Clinton said.
"So yesterday`s attack reminds of the challenges that girls face, whether it`s poverty or marginalisation or even violence, just for speaking out for their basic rights," the US Secretary of State said.
PTI
