Hina Rabbani Khar demands extradition of Malala's attacker

Islamabad: Pakistan has sought extradition of Mullah Fazlullah, a militant commander who planned the attack on teenager Malala Yousafzai and is believed to be hiding in Afghanistan. Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar has demanded Fazlullah’s extradition during her meeting with US special envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan Mark Grossman. [caption id=“attachment_498474” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Malala Yousafzai was shot in the head by a Taliban gunman.[/caption] Grossman was told that Fazlullah was involved in the attack and that the US should use its influence for his extradition, Geo TV reported Monday. Fazlullah and his associates have been hiding in Afghanistan’s Kunar province, and have carried out 15 cross-border attacks over the past one year, according to officials. Fourteen-year-old Malala Yousafzai was shot in the head by a Taliban gunman in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on 9 October. She was on her way home from school when an attacker wearing police uniform stopped the school bus and opened fire at her. She was seriously injured. The Taliban said they attacked Malala, Pakistan’s first National Peace Award winner, for “promoting secularism”. Malala was flown to Britain for treatment aboard an air ambulance provided by the UAE. She is undergoing treatment at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham. Malala came to prominence in 2009 at the age of 11, when she started writing a diary for BBC Urdu about life under the Taliban. Under the pen-name Gul Makai, she described the problems caused by militants who had taken control of the Swat Valley where she lived in 2007 and ordered girls’ schools to close, according to the BBC. IANS