AFP PHOTO / PAUL ELLIS
by Ali Akbar & Mohammad Zubair Khan, Dawn
Swat: An anti-terrorism court of Swat on Thursday sentenced ten men to 25 years imprisonment in the case related to the 2012 attack on child activist Malala Yousufzai.
The ten convicts were identified as Bilal, Shaukat, Salman, Zafar Iqbal, Israrullah, Zafar Ali, Irfan, Izhar, Adnan and Ikram.
The Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) had claimed the attack on Malala in October 2012 as the then 14-year-old was returning from her school in the Mingora town of Swat valley. Two schoolmates of the educationist, Kainat and Shazia, were also wounded in the attack.
Malala survived after being airlifted to Britain for treatment and recovered from her life-threatening wounds.
Her courage was recognised and praised worldwide and she was nominated for several international peace awards. She became the youngest Nobel peace prize winner in October 2014.
Pakistan Army had claimed in Sept 2014, the arrest of 10 Taliban terrorists involved in the attack on Malala Yousufzai and announced they would be tried under anti-terror laws.
The arrests were made on information provided by Israrullah, one of the alleged shooters, who was the first to be arrested.
All ten suspects hailed from Malakand division and had been arrested during several intelligence-led joint operations which involved the army’s Swat-based formation, ISI, Military Intelligence and police.
Zafar Iqbal, a furniture shop owner in Swat, was the main accused and led the group.
