India lost chance to welcome Malala
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India had the opportunity to treat Pakistani teenager and anti-Taliban rights activist Malala Yousafzai, but lost the chance. Fifteen year old Malala, who has become a symbol of girls' rights worldwide, was shot Taliban attackers.
Civil society groups in India and Pakistan, backed by some Awami National Party legislators in Pakistan, approached the Indian establishment to have Malala flown to a super speciality private hospital in Mumbai for treatment highly placed sources said.
Bat, according to sources, officials in Prime Minister's office (PMO) hesitated on two counts: Malala did not possess valid travel document, which could have been easily addressed, and such a move seem like a ploy on India's part to score a brownie point on the back of a human tragedy.
When contacted, a PMO official said "there were indeed informal talks on the issue, but there was no formal proposal from any individual or group" to allow Malala to travel to Mumbai for treatment. Asked if India could have made the offer, he declined to comment.
Indian mediators were asked by the PMO to urge the Pakistani civil society groups and/or the Awami National Party to "make a request to India", sources told. The progress should begin from Pakistan, the mediators were told.
By this time Malala received preliminary treatment in a Peshawar Hospital, where surgeons had managed to remove the bullet that had hit her skull. She was then shifted to a military hospital, and significantly a military statement reproduced by the BBC said that Malala be shifted abroad to a UK centre, which has capability to provide integrated care to children who have sustained severe injury".
The air ambulance was arranged by the United Arab Emirates and she was flown to London. Sources said key doctors in a super speciality hospital had been spoken to and had shown willingness to take up Malala's case after addressing security considerations.
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