AFP Oct. 10, 2014 – Pakistan`s Malala Yousafzai who became the youngest ever winner of the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday, made a high-level peacemaking move after sharing the award with India`s Kailash Satyarthi for championing children’s rights.
The Nobel Peace Prize was awarded jointly to Malala, who survived being shot in the head by the Taliban, and to India’s Kailash Satyarthi, for championing children’s rights.
The 17-year-old girls’ education activist — who heard of her win during a chemistry lesson at her school in Birmingham, England — invited the prime ministers of oft-warring India and Pakistan to the ceremony in Oslo in December when she and the 60-year-old Indian activist will receive the award.
“The award is for all the children who are voiceless, whose voices need to be heard,” she told a press conference held at the end of the school day so she wouldn`t miss class.
After the news of Nobel Peace prize being given to Malala, Joyful Pakistanis celebrated her receiving the prestigious award in her home town of Mingora with dancing, singing and the sharing of cakes…
Pakistan’s premier Sharif called Malala the “pride” of his country.
“She has made her countrymen proud. Her achievement is unparalleled and unequalled. Girls and boys of the world should take the lead from her struggle and commitment,” he told AFP in a statement.
US President Barack Obama also congratulated her, saying he was “awe-struck by her courage”.
The head of the UN educational organization UNESCO praised both winners, saying the awarding of the peace prize “sends out a resounding message to the world on the importance of education for building peaceful and sustainable societies.”
Satyarthi, who founded a consumer campaign in the 1980s to combat child labor in the handmade carpet industry, said he was “delighted,” calling the Nobel prize “recognition of our fight for child rights”.
Malala Yousafzai will travel to Canada to become an honorary citizen, Prime Minister Stephen Harper said Friday.