Pakistan child activist facing 'critical' 24-36 hours

The next 36 to 48 hours will be critical for a Pakistani schoolgirl shot in the head by the Taliban, the military said Friday, calling on the nation to pray for her recovery. The shooting of 14-year-old Malala Yousafzai who campaigned for the right to an education has been denounced worldwide and by the Pakistani authorities, who have offered a reward of more than $100,000 for the capture of her attackers. She is being treated at the country's top military hospital in the city of Rawalpindi, where she is still on a ventilator."Malala's condition is satisfactory, praise be to God, but the next 36 to 48 hours are critical," military spokesman Major General Asim Saleem Bajwa told a media briefing. "Today is the sacred day of Friday and the entire nation is praying for her health. I pray to Allah that He bestows her with good health very soon." Bajwa said two foreign doctors were being consulted, but that for the moment no decision had been made on sending her abroad for further treatment. Schools opened with prayers for Malala on Friday and special prayers will be offered after Friday weekly prayers at mosques, officials said. Malala won international prominence after highlighting Taliban atrocities in Swat with a blog for the BBC three years ago, when the Islamist militants burned girls' schools and terrorised the valley before the army intervened.