Nobel Prize a great encouragement: Malala

KABUL.

 “I am extremely happy today and the award encouraged me to struggle more hard for girls’ education,” said Malala in Pashtu after winning the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize.  

This year there were 278 nominees for the prize, more than any other year till date. The other major contenders for the prize were Edward Snowden, who exposed the surveillance activities of US intelligence agencies; Pope Francis, the first non-European Pope in modern times; Denis Mukwege, a Congolese leader who worked with rape victims; and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

At the age of 17, Malala is now the youngest Nobel Prize winner ever. She and Satyarthi will share the $1.11million prize to be awarded in Oslo on Dec 10.

Nobel Peace Prize Committee in Norway said the pair, a Pakistani and an Indian, was awarded the noble prize for their struggle for the rights of girls and children.

Thorbjon Jugland , the committee head, praised Malala for her courage and achievements and he said “being a teen ager, Malala has struggled for girls’ education and she believes children and youth can change their lives with their struggle.”  

Taliban in 2012 when she was campaigning for girls’ education. Later, she was sent to the UK for treatment and she continued her struggle after her recovery abroad.

Malala said she was all alone to advocate girls’ education “but now the entire world stands beside me.” “It is a high time to prove the world that Pashtuns want peace in their areas and education for their children.”

The Nobel Peace Prize to Pakistan’s Malala and India’s Satyarthi was awarded on Friday, at a time when their militaries were locked in a volatile spiral on the borders.

dai/ma

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