The valley near the Afghanistan border once attracted tourists to Pakistan's only ski resort, as well as visitors to the ancient Buddhist ruins in the area. But that was before militants -- their faces covered -- unleashed a wave of violence.

They demanded veils for women, beards for men and a ban on music and television. They allowed boys' schools to operate but closed those for girls.

"We have sacrificed, both man and material and our valiant armed forces, innocent children, citizens, workers and leaders," Ashraf said Friday. "But now the nation is united and we have to unite and stand together to uproot this menace from our motherland and our children."

Speaking in Rawalpindi, Ashraf thanked political leaders and others who have stood up in support of Malala. "We would together like to give this message to fight against the mindset that attacked her," he said.

'Education is the best thing'

At Islamabad's Khaldunia High School, students hung banners and wrote letters demanding that the government do everything possible to save Malala.

Girls look up to Malala, said one female student whose identity CNN isn't revealing to protect her safety.

"I was really shocked because she was so ambitious ..." she said. "I pray for her health."

"To have the courage to actually go against all that," another girl said. "I think that was quite respectable."

A reporter asked if the attack has inspired them and if they planned to speak up even louder.

"I want these people who attacked her to learn that women are not all bad," one girl answered. "They are basically afraid of giving women equal rights because they're afraid of what women can do because they know they can do a lot.

"I want to speak up so they can learn some lessons from that message."

One boy said he wanted to study more because of Malala. He won't take going to school for granted anymore, he said.

"What I learned from her is that education is the best thing, and if I get an education, I will be a better person," said another boy, 14.

A 'barbaric act'

President Asif Ali Zardari told Malala's father Friday that he was grieving and in shock over her shooting, and he condemned "the barbaric act of the militants," according to a news release from his office.

The president also said Malala and the other two victims of the attack should get free medical care.

Pakistani Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar on Thursday called the attempted assassination of Malala "a wake-up call" for the nation.

Pakistani media reports suggested that the government is considering sending her overseas for treatment, but Bajwa, the military spokesman, said Friday that there is no plan yet to do that.

Media inside Pakistan continue to debate how to respond to Malala's shooting.

"Just as the Taliban scare us with terror, we must scare them by making them unable to operate," Madiha Afzal, an assistant professor at the University of Maryland who grew up in Pakistan, wrote in an opinion piece published in The Express Tribune.

"We must terrorize them by investing more than ever before in educating girls," she said.

Former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, now the U.N. special envoy for global education, has traveled to Pakistan and advocated for girls' education there. He said in an editorial published Friday that Zardari has invited him to return in November to lead a delegation of education leaders to come up with ways to improve opportunities for children.

"I have asked Pakistan's President Zardari to pledge that Malala's suffering will not be in vain," he wrote.