Brave holy warriors.
Via Telegraph:
A second teenage girl has been threatened with assassination in Pakistan following the Taliban’s failed attempt to murder Malala Yousafzai, an outspoken critic of Islamic extremism, earlier this month.
Hina Khan has been subjected to a series of chilling warnings and her family have appealed to the government for protection.
Like Malala, Hina Khan is from Swat and has been campaigning for girls schools since she was 13.
“I can’t go to school, I can’t go out of the house, I can’t even go to the market since these threats,” she told The Daily Telegraph in her family’s dark sitting room, surrounded by campaign posters and with her mother and father keeping a careful watch. “I just pray we will all be OK.”
The story of the two young activists illustrates the huge challenges facing Pakistan as it tries to get millions of young girls into schools and the dangers they face.
Days before Malala was shot in the head by a gunman as she travelled home from school, a crimson cross was spray painted on the gate to their smart home on the outskirts of Islamabad.
The family washed it off only for it to be repainted a week later.
A terrifying phone call to the house removed any doubt about the message it carried.
“You can remove the sign but you are still a target, is what they told us,” said Rayatullah Khan, her father, who also runs a pressure group agitating for peace in Pakistan.
The voice on the other end did not identify himself but said, “We are going to kill you,” according to Mr Khan. “We have been watching your daughter ever since 2008.”