Taliban threatens Malala with tweet: "this time there will be no mistake"

Islamabad, Pakistan - A Pakistani Taliban militant who shot and badly injured Nobel Laureate Malala Yousafzai nine years ago has threatened a second attack on her, tweeting that next time, "there would be no mistake."

Pakistani Nobel Laureate Malala Yousafzai at the 2019 World Assembly for Women in Tokyo, Japan.
Pakistani Nobel Laureate Malala Yousafzai at the 2019 World Assembly for Women in Tokyo, Japan.  © IMAGO / AFLO

In response, Twitter on Wednesday permanently suspended the account that made the post, the Associated Press reported.

Concerned about the renewed threat she received from the Twitter account, Malala asked both the Pakistan military and Prime Minister Imran Khan to explain how her alleged shooter, Ehsanullah Ehsan, had escaped from prison.

Malala is an activist icon around the globe. She first achieved widespread public attention in 2009, when she wrote about the way the Taliban took control of her home in the Swat Valley, forcing girls out of schools and ruling with violence.

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The 23-year-old activist is known for her fund that campaigns for girls' education worldwide. She even financed a girls' school in the Swat Valley.

Malala was just 14 when a gunman walked up to her on a school bus and fired three bullets at her.

Ehsan, a longtime member of the Pakistani Taliban, claimed responsibility for the attack. He was arrested in 2017, but escaped from government custody under mysterious circumstances in January 2020.

Since, he has communicated with in-country journalists via the same Twitter account that carried the threat against Malala. All of his Twitter accounts have been suspended, including the most recent one.

Ehsan called for Malala to "come back home because we have a score to settle with you and your father," adding, "this time there will be no mistake."

Malala calls out the Pakistani government in response:

"This is the ex-spokesperson of Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan who claims the attack on me and many innocent people. He is now threatening people on social media,” Malala tweeted, calling out the government's failures. "How did he escape?"

Ehsan was also responsible for a deadly 2014 attack that killed 134 at a Pakistani army public school. Some of the children were as young as five years old.

During his years in military custody, Ehsan was never charged. Authorities also never explained how he managed to escape and leave the country.

Cover photo: IMAGO / AFLO

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