LONDON: Pakistani teenager Malala Yousafzai, who was shot in the head by the Taliban in 2012 for advocating girls´...
LONDON: Pakistani teenager Malala Yousafzai, who was shot in the head by the Taliban in 2012 for advocating girls´ right to education, said she was honoured to have been chosen as joint winner of the Nobel Prize on Friday.
"I´m feeling honoured that I´m being chosen as a Nobel Laureate," she said, speaking from Birmingham, England where she is now based. "I´m proud that I´m the first Pakistani and first young woman, or the first young person, who is getting this award."
Malala dedicated her Nobel peace prize to "voiceless" children around the world, and called on the Indian and Pakistani prime ministers to attend the award ceremony for the sake of peace.
The 17-year-old, who heard the news while she was in a chemistry lesson at school in Birmingham, central England, said she was honoured to be the youngest person and the first Pakistani to receive the accolade.
"The award is for all the children who are voiceless, whose voices need to be heard," Malala told a press conference, held at the end of the school day so she wouldn´t miss class.
Standing on a box so she could reach the podium at Birmingham´s main library, the teenager joked that winning the Nobel would not help her upcoming school exams.
But she told an audience that included her parents and two younger brothers: "I felt more powerful and more courageous because this award is not just a piece of metal or a medal you wear or an award you keep in your room.
"This is encouragement for me to go forward."
The Norwegian Nobel Committee gave the award to Malala and Indian activist Kailash Satyarthi for their struggle against the repression of children and young people and "for the right of all children to education".
Malala said she had already spoken to Satyarthi -- she joked that she could not pronounce his name -- to discuss how they could work together, and also try to reduce tensions between their two countries.
To that end, she urged Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Pakistani Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif to attend the Nobel award ceremony in December.
There have also been concerns about exposing a child to such a level of public exposure.
"I used to say that I think I do not deserve the Nobel peace prize. I still believe that," Malala said.
"But I believe it is not only an award for what I´ve done but an encouragement for giving me hope, for giving me the courage to go and continue this." (AFP/Reuters)