Human history becomes more and more a race between education and catastrophe – H.G. Wells

Sick and tired of the supposedly “negative propaganda” being pedalled against hardline Muslims by a 14-year-old girl, members of the Pakistani Taliban decided to do something about it. They shot her in the head. Malala Yousafzai’s “crime” was to advocate girls’ education. That, and her admiration for US President Barack Obama, led the Taliban’s chief spokesman to describe her as “a symbol of the infidels and of obscenity”. His organisation has in the past busied itself blowing up dozens of girls’ schools and beheading ideological opponents, presumably in the cause of piety and decency.

The attack on Malala, who has now been flown to Britain for emergency treatment, has galvanised moderate opinion in Pakistan. Mass rallies have been held to pray for her recovery and many of Pakistan’s leading religious groups have joined in condemning the attack. The outpouring is reminiscent of the national shock that greeted images of Taliban flogging women in the Swat valley three years ago and support for a subsequent military assault against extremists.