Lahore, Pakistan, Oct 15, 2012 / 16:33 pm
Christians across Pakistan are praying for 14-year-old Malala Yousafzai, whose recent attempted murder by the Taliban has sparked widespread rebuke of the country's government for failing to prevent the attack.
"Malala is a light among the shadows of illiteracy, poverty and terrorism," said a group of over 75 religious leaders from the Christian, Muslim, Hindu and Sikh religions. "Her work is in the spirit of Islam and all other religions of the world."
The Council for Interreligious Dialogue organized a prayer meeting in Lahore under the leadership of its coordinator, Capuchin Franciscan Father Francis Nadeem and Dominican Father James Channan, head of Lahore's Peace Center, Fides news agency reports.
On Oct. 9 masked gunmen singled out and shot Yousafzai on a bus of schoolchildren in Pakistan's northwestern Swat Valley near the Afghanistan border. A spokesperson for the gunmen's group Tehrik-e Taliban Pakistan said they shot her for her advocacy of girls' education alongside boys and Western culture.