Peace prize winner Malala invites PMs of India, Pakistan to Nobel ceremony

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 17-year-old girls’ education activist - who heard of her win during a chemistry lesson at her school in Birmingham, England - invited Narendra Modi and Nawaz Sharif, 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. Malala has lived in Britain since she was brought there for treatment after being shot in the head in 2012 by the Taliban near her home in Pakistan’s Swat Valley for her advocacy of the right of girls to go to school.

The award is for all the children who are voiceless, whose voices need to be heard.

Malala Yousafzai, speaking at a press conference held at the end of the school day so she wouldn’t miss class

Pakistan’s premier Sharif called Malala the “pride” of his country while U.S. President Barack Obama 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”. Since her brush with death, Malala has become an international star. She received a standing ovation in July 2013 for an address to the United Nations General Assembly in which she vowed she would never be silenced. She will travel to Canada later this month to become an honorary citizen; only the sixth person to be so honoured. The others include the Dalai Lama, Nelson Mandela and Aung San Suu Kyi.

Her achievement is unparallelled and unequalled. Girls and boys of the world should take the lead from her struggle and commitment.

Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif

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