14-year-old girls’ rights activist Malala Yousafzai underwent a “successful” operation to remove a bullet from her head.
The young Pakistani girl was shot on Monday, with the Taliban claiming responsibility for the attack. The militants fired at Yousafzai in retaliation for her efforts to “promote secularism.”
Yousafzai generated a lot of attention in 2009 when she wrote an online diary for BBC Urdu about living under Taliban rule. The Taliban invaded the Swat Valley in 2007 and quickly established an extreme version of Islamic law.
Closing down girls’ schools was a major tenet of Taliban rule, a measure that Yousafzai spoke out against in her diary.
Once the Taliban were driven out of the area, Yousafzai won a national award for bravery and was nominated for an international children’s peace award.
Doctors in Peshawar operated on Yousafzai for hours before the surgery was successfully completed. A plane remains on standby in case Yousafzai requires treatment overseas.
The international community has condemned the attack, with anti-Taliban protests erupting in Parkistan as well. Schools in the Swat Valley closed their doors on Wednesday in protest.
Since the attack, Yousafzai has become a poster child for the first UN endorsed International Day of the Girl, which will now take place every October 11th. The Maryland Women’s Heritage Center will serve as the main venue, though other cities besides Washington, DC are also expected to host their own events.