Islamabad: Just days after she was conferred an international award for courage, well-known Pakistani women's rights activist Shad Begum has been threatened by the Taliban for speaking out against the militants in their former
stronghold of Swat.
Apart from Begum, who was among 10 women presented the International Women of Courage Award by US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in Washington earlier this week, the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan threatened 14-year-old Malala
Yousufzai, the first recipient of Pakistan's new National Peace Prize.
Taliban spokesman Ehsanullah Ehsan said both of them were on the militants' "hit list".
Begum is a social worker from Lower Dir district, located a short distance from Islamabad. The area was overrun by the Taliban in 2009 before the army launched an offensive to flush out the militants.
Yousufzai is a resident of the Swat Valley and came to prominence with her blog that detailed the atrocities of the Taliban.
Ehsan said Begum and Yousufzai had backed the "imposition of secular" governance in Swat.
"These women have been working for the vested interest of the West and have supported the imposition of secular rule in Swat Valley," he told the media in Pakistan's northwest.
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