Mario B Posted October 16, 2012 Pakistan's interior minister has announced a $1m bounty for a senior member of the Pakistan Taliban, who claimed responsibility for the assassination attempt on Malala Yousafzai. Ehsannullah Ehsan, spokesman of the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), has sent a series of messages to media organisations trying to justify the attack on a 14-year-old girl. Malala was flown to the UK on Monday for specialist care at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham. She was shot in the head as she travelled home from school last Tuesday. In an interview with CNN, Rehman Malik, who is overseeing the hunt for her would-be killers, said: "What is important is that the guy who said the TTP was responsible for her assassination, I am announcing today a $1m bounty on his head, which is more than 100m rupees, because we want to definitely get him." He said he had names of the terrorists involved and had detained the fiancee of one of the men hunted by security forces. And he claimed the plot had been hatched in Afghanistan, used as a safe haven by the Pakistan Taliban since their forces were driven from the Swat Valley in 2009. The Pakistan Taliban has made a series of threats against local journalists in the wake of the attack. Many analysts believe commanders have realised they made a tactical error by trying to kill a 14-year-old girl and are now intent on silencing coverage. A string of negative stories has prompted a national outcry against the Pakistan Taliban. Last week, Ehsan - believed to be a pseudonym used by several senior figures - released a series of messages trying to justify the attack with Islamic law in an apparent attempt to take on public opinion. "It's a clear command of sharia that any female, that by any means play role in war against mujahideen, should be killed. Malala Yousafzai was playing a vital role in bucking up the emotions of Murtad [apostate] army and Government of Pakistan, and was inviting Muslims to hate mujahideen," said one message. However, that was not enough to prevent senior clerics issuing a fatwa days later, condemning the actions of the Pakistan Taliban. Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/pakistan/9611501/Pakistan-announces-1m-bounty-for-Taliban-spokesman.html Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
