Malala shot for criticising the Taliban

Malala: Letter Explains Why Taliban Shot TeenA prominent militant commander said he found the attack "shocking" and wished he had warned her to stop criticising the group.6:52pm UK, Wednesday 17 July 2013 Malala addressing the UN last week
EmailA senior figure from the Taliban has written to teenage education campaigner Malala Yousafzai explaining that she was shot for her "smears" against the group.

The 16-year-old - who addressed the United Nations in New York last week - was attacked in Pakistan last October.

In the letter, seen by Channel 4 News, commander Adnan Rasheed says the schoolgirl was not targeted for her pro-education campaign but for her "propaganda" against the Taliban.

Rasheed said: "Taliban believe that you were intentionally writing against them and running a smearing campaign to malign their efforts to establish Islamic system in Swat and your writings were provocative."

Although the Taliban commander said he found the attack "shocking" and wished he had warned her to stop criticising the group, he stopped short of condemning or apologising for the shooting.


Malala in hospital after the shooting

"Taliban attacked you. Was it Islamically correct or wrong, or you were deserved to be killed or not. I will not go in this argument now. Let’s we leave it to Allah All mighty. He is the best judge," he said.

Rasheed, who the Taliban broke out of prison last year, said the militants supported both boys and girls going to school as long as they received an Islamic education and did not study what he called a "satanic or secular curriculum".

Malala wrote in a blog, during the time the Taliban controlled the Swat Valley, about how students had moved out of the area after the militants issued an edict banning girls from school.

He ended the letter by advising the youngster "to come back home".

"Adopt the Islamic and Pushtoon culture, join any female Islamic madrassa near your home town, study and learn the book of Allah, use your pen for Islam and plight of Muslim ummah and reveal the conspiracy of tiny elite who want to enslave the whole humanity for their evil agendas in the name of new world order," he wrote.

Rasheed, who has close relations with Taliban leaders, said the letter expressed his own opinion, not that of the group.

The Taliban's attack on Malala, who was 15 years old at the time, sparked international condemnation of the militant group.