Malala petitions Pakistani government after teacher shot dead

Schoolgirls in Pakistan's Swat Valley walk to school under armed guard Credit: ITV News

Visiting Sway Valley last month I saw first hand the courage of the thousands of Malalas and their teachers who each day make the journey to and from school.

This latest shooting is a reminder that the threat they face has not subsided.

The killing of teacher Shahnaz Nazli, 41, bears all the hallmarks of the extreme Islamist militants who shot school girl Malala Yousufzai last October.

Shahnaz was a mother and a primary school teacher: A giver of life and a lover of life.

She was on her way to the government primary school for girls in Shahkas, north-west Pakistan when gunmen fired at her about 200 metres from the school and fled on motorbikes.

Watch my report from Malala's home town here.

The attack was similar in style and horror to that which Malala Yousafzai endured and survived last year.

Malala is now recovering in Birmingham and last week returned to school here.

She and her father Ziauddin have become the first to sign a petition addressed to the Pakistani President following this latest assassination of teacher Shahnaz.

Read: Malala goes back to school after Taliban attack

Malala with her father Ziauddin on her first day of school in the UK

Malala has joined others petitioners calling on the Pakistani government to ensure the safety and security of teachers and girls who want to go to school.

Gordon Brown, the UN Special Envoy for Global Education, writes: "Malala, her father and other signatories express the demand that the sacrifice of Shahnaz, the school teacher killed yesterday, should not be in vain."

The bombed-out remains of a girls' school in Peshawar Credit: Reuters

The petition reads:

You can sign Malala's petition here.