Malala's Moment: Nobel Winner Speaks Out

Nobel Peace Prize winners Malala Yousafzai from Pakistan and Kailash Satyarthi of India shake hands during the Nobel Peace Prize award ceremony in Oslo, Norway, Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2014. The Nobel Peace Prize is being shared between Malala Yousafzai, the 17-year-old Taliban attack survivor, and the youngest Nobel Prize winner ever, and Indian children's rights activist Kailash Satyarthi in a ceremony in Oslo on Wednesday.

OSLO, NORWAY (AP) — The Pakistani teenager stood on the stage of Oslo City Hall as the youngest Nobel Peace laureate, smiling as she listened to the thunderous ovation.

Now, everybody knows: She is Malala. Shot in the head by the Taliban two years ago for speaking out on education, 17-year-old Malala Yousafzai on Wednesday beamed as she received the Nobel Peace Prize and taught a lesson in courage.

"I had two options. One was to remain silent and wait to be killed. And the second was to speak up and then be killed. I chose the second one. I decided to speak up," Malala said. And with that, Malala proved that teenagers could tell the elders a thing or two. Anyone who hadn't read her memoir, "I am Malala," was about to get an education.

She adjusted her coral pink headscarf and made no effort to hide any scars that might remain from the attack. She thanked her parents for unconditional love and then humbly suggested that she was somehow not all that special — just a girl who fights with her brothers who wanted to learn above all else.

"As far as I know, I am just a committed and even stubborn person who wants to see every child getting quality education, who wants to see women having equal rights and who wants peace in every corner of the world," she said. "Education is one of the blessings of life, and one of its necessities."

Malala shared the prize with Kailash Satyarthi of India. Both have campaigned for the rights of children and young people, particularly education. The two laureates bonded immediately. They share a hard-won understanding among those activists who have suffered much, but there is also warmth and commitment to the future. Satyarthi looked on approvingly as she spoke, and has volunteered to be her second father.

But in so many ways, it was Malala's moment. Even an asylum seeker from Mexico rushing on stage left her unperturbed. She has used her time in the spotlight to offer hope that her prize will inspire young girls all over the world to fight for their rights — and to step forward to lead.

In an interview with The Associated Press, she played on theme of a global sisterhood of sorts, with women gathering the strength to fight for education, the key to a future. Malala herself often has expressed her wish to lead — setting sights on one day becoming Pakistani prime minister and following in the steps of the late Benazir Bhutto.

And it was in talking about Pakistan that she melted — if but a bit. It was as if all the excitement about the Nobels, all the interviews, all the banquets — all of it — just faded for a moment as she described her pride in being Pakistani and what the award would mean for people back home.

"There was a time this region of the world was called a terrorist place, and many people get scared of it. No one even tried to say the name of this country," she told the AP. "So I am really proud to tell people that the people of Pakistan are peaceful, they have harmony, they love each other, they believe in brotherhood.

"But there are some extremist-minded people who misuse the name of Islam and who give a bad name of our country," she said. "But that's not true. Many people are standing up for children's rights, woman's rights and for human rights."

In her hometown of Mingora, Pakistan, roughly 200 people gathered at the Khpal Kore Model High School in the Swat Valley where a large screen had been set up to show the ceremony. "We feel honored today," said 17-year-old Naveed Ali, who was delighted to see a fellow student and hometown girl win such a big prize.

But not everyone was thrilled. Some in Pakistan feel she has become a tool of the West and question whether her shooting was staged or made up to make her a hero. Naveed Ahsan, 25, a university student in Islamabad, said Malala was selected for the Nobel prize by those who wanted to use her to "create hate against the Taliban."

The persistence of such divisions make Malala's example that much more potent. Sarah Cardey, a lecturer in international development at the University of Reading in Britain, said Malala stands for the indomitable courage of the human spirit.

"Her quiet example will achieve more than 1,000 drone strikes in efforts to defeat the Taliban," she said. Malala herself left a memento behind in Oslo to show she hasn't forgotten how she got there: the bloodied school uniform she was wearing the day she was shot. It will form part of the Nobel Peace Center exhibition opening Thursday.

It's a stark reminder of how the world came to know Malala, of the time a Taliban gunman climbed into the back of a small pick-up truck used to transport Swat Valley children home from school. "Who is Malala?" he shouted.

She attempts to answer that in her book, written with British journalist Christina Lamb. She understands she's known as the girl shot by the Taliban, the girl who survived. But she's other things too.

And she is just 17. "I'm pretty certain I'm also the first recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize who still fights with her younger brothers," she said as her family burst into grins. "I want there to be peace everywhere, but my brothers and I are still working on that."

Associated Press Writer Sylvia Hui in London, Mark Lewis in Oslo, Norway and Naveed Ali in Mingora, Pakistan, and Munir Ahmed in Islamabad, Pakistan contributed to this report.

Nobel Peace Prize winners Malala Yousafzai from Pakistan, front, and Kailash Satyarthi of India are awarded their Nobel Peace Prize during the Nobel Peace Prize award ceremony in Oslo, Norway, Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2014. The Nobel Peace Prize is being shared between Malala Yousafzai, the 17-year-old Taliban attack survivor, and the youngest Nobel Prize winner ever, and Indian children's rights activist Kailash Satyarthi in a ceremony in Oslo on Wednesday.

Girl Power: Friends Shot With Malala Share Her Joy

Joint-Nobel Peace prize winners Malala Yousafzai, left, and Kailash Satyarthi attend a press conference in Oslo, Norway, Tuesday, Dec. 9, 2014

OSLO, NORWAY (AP) — Malala Yousafszai wasn't alone when she was shot by the Taliban for having the temerity to demand an education.

Two other girls were also attacked that day in Pakistan and Malala hasn't forgotten them. She brought her friends with her to Oslo, Norway, so they can share her joy as she receives the Nobel Peace Prize.

Shazia Ramazan, 16, and Kainat Riaz, 17, hugged their friend and posed for pictures with her Tuesday before telling reporters that all three are bound together in what they called "Mission Malala" — joining with people around the world to make sure that young girls get a chance to study.

Riaz said "when you are educated, you are able to do everything. If you are not educated, you can't do anything."

Malala's Improbable Journey To Nobel Peace Prize

Malala Yousafzai poses with a bouquet after speaking during a media conference at the Library of Birmingham, in Birmingham, England, Friday, Oct. 10, 2014, after she was named as winner of The Nobel Peace Prize. The Nobel Peace Prize 2014, is awarded jointly to Malala Yousafzai of Pakistan and Kailash Satyarthi of India, for risking their lives to fight for children’s rights. Malala was shot in the head by a Taliban gunman two-years ago in Pakistan for insisting that girls have the right to an education.

BIRMINGHAM, ENGLAND (ASSOCIATED PRESS) — Malala Yousafzai celebrated her Nobel Peace Prize where she always wished to be: in school.

The 17-year-old Pakistani girl shot by the Taliban for daring to want an education learned she had become the youngest Nobel laureate ever Friday while attending classes at Edgbaston High School for girls in Birmingham, the city in central England that she now calls home.

The teenager had traveled to Birmingham for medical treatment after being targeted by the Taliban for standing up to the group's hard-line interpretation of Islam that limits girls' access to education. She was shot while returning home from school in Pakistan's volatile Swat Valley two years ago, almost to the day.

"This award is for all those children who are voiceless, whose voices need to be heard. I speak for them and I stand up with them," she said at a news conference Friday at Birmingham Library. "They have rights. They have the right to receive a quality education. They have the right not to suffer from child labor, not to suffer from child trafficking. They have the right to live a happy life."

She said it was an honor to share the prize with Kailash Satyarthi of India, 60, who has spent a lifetime standing up against child slavery and exploitation. And she invited the prime ministers of their two rival nations, India and Pakistan, to attend the Nobel awards ceremony.

Malala's case won worldwide recognition, and the teen became a symbol for the struggle for women's rights in Pakistan. In an indication of her reach, she spoke before the United Nations and made the shortlist for Time magazine's "Person of the Year" for 2012.

But the journey was simply improbable. On Oct. 9, 2012, Malala, then 15, climbed into the back of a pick-up truck used to transport Swat Valley children home from school. They laughed and talked as the truck rumbled over roads lined with pot holes.

As they approached a narrow bridge over a garbage-strewn stream, a masked man with a gun suddenly stopped the truck. Another man with a pistol jumped into the back. "Who is Malala?" he shouted. The girls did not answer but heads automatically swiveled toward her. The man raised his pistol. One bullet hit Malala on the top of her head. Two other students were also hit, less seriously.

Malala was transferred to a military hospital near Islamabad, the Pakistani capital, as her head swelled dangerously. Her father, Ziauddin, was certain his daughter would not survive the night. He sent a message to his brother-in-law in Swat to prepare a coffin.

Pakistani doctors removed a bullet that entered her head and traveled toward her spine before she was flown to Britain for more specialized brain trauma care. She woke up a week later at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham.

She says she regained consciousness with one thought: "Thank God I'm not dead." Malala gradually regained her sight and her voice. She was reunited with her parents. Soon there were pictures and stuffed animals at her side. She sent messages to well-wishers.

Three months later she walked out of the hospital, smiling shyly as she cautiously strode down the corridor. "She is quite well and happy on returning home — as we all are," her father told The Associated Press at the time.

Pakistan made Malala's father its education attache in Birmingham, giving the family stability and Malala a safe place to go to school. She went back to school as soon as she could, confessing that math was her least favorite subject. All the while, she campaigned for the rights of children to an education — meeting President Barack Obama, attending rights conferences, becoming the keynote speaker at corporate events in London. She began rubbing elbows with people who had the power and the money to help her realize her dreams.

All along, she delighted many by simply being young, determined and most of all, herself. At a Vodafone conference celebrating women, she confided that she didn't have a cell phone. The crowd chuckled at the notion of a teenager who admitted she had no need for a phone.

With British journalist Christina Lamb, she co-authored a memoir, "I am Malala," that made clear that she was, in fact, also a regular teenager. She loves the TV show "Ugly Betty," whose main character works at a fashion magazine. She likes pop star Justin Bieber, watches the television cooking show "MasterChef."

And on Friday, the people who helped her on the journey — and those just touched by her story along the way — couldn't help but be swept up by the magic of it all. "Malala is an inspiration for the many women in Afghanistan and Pakistan who have been fighting for their rights and struggling against the misogynous policies of the Taliban and local warlords," said David Cortright, co-author of "Afghan Women Speak" and a professor at the University of Notre Dame in Indiana.

"As we know, people learn best from personal stories. Malala's story is a powerful antidote to extremist propaganda, and the Nobel Prize reinforces its impact," he said. As news of her Nobel spread, doctors in Birmingham offered congratulations, noting her focus and dedication. And the people of the city that threw its arms out to welcome her simply nodded their heads. No surprise at this news. She's liked and well known in Birmingham, a city that Malala has embraced, proudly describing herself as a "Brummie," like other locals.

"Sure, puts a bit of pride into it," said retired aluminum worker John Mullan, 78, of the news the city's adopted daughter had won a Nobel Prize. "She's just young girl who stood up to them. Many other people wouldn't have done that."

Malala remains determined to return to Pakistan one day and enter politics. On Friday, her growing polish was clear. She spoke from the heart in three languages, offering an almost uncanny combination of a teenager with a vision and a diplomat with a platform.
She did need a box, however, so that she could be seen over the podium. She will split a $1.1 million cash award with co-winner Satyarthi. Malala said the joint prize sends a message that the people of their rival nations — and Hindus and Muslims — can work together.
"We support each other," she said. Then, standing alongside her parents and brothers, she posed for family photographs while the world's media begged them to look their way. Her normally reticent mother, who has more than once hidden when cameras emerged, stood alongside, beaming.
What everyone wanted to know was: How did she learn the news? How did a schoolgirl who has just been pulled out of a chemistry class react upon hearing she had just received the world's most prestigious prize?
"I felt really honored," she said. There was probably some jumping up and down, but she didn't mention that. Then, she said, she turned around and headed back to class. She was back in time for physics.

Associated Press writer Kathy Gannon contributed reporting from Mingora, Pakistan.

Pakistan Nabs Militants Linked To Attack On Malala

Malala Yousafzai, a 16-year-old girl from Pakistan who was shot in the head by the Taliban last October for advocating education for girls, speaks about her fight for girls' education on the International Day of the Girl at the World Bank in Washington. Pakistan's army announced Friday, Sept. 12, 2014, that it had arrested 10 militants suspected of involvement in the 2012 attack on teenage activist Malala, who won world acclaim after she was shot in the head by the Taliban for advocating gender equality and education for women.

ISLAMABAD (AP) — Pakistan's army said Friday that it has arrested 10 militants suspected of involvement in the 2012 attack on teenage activist Malala Yousafzai, who won world acclaim after she was shot in the head by the Taliban for advocating gender equality and education for women.

Army spokesman Gen. Asim Saleem Bajwa said the detained men attacked Yousafzai, then 15, on orders from Mullah Fazlullah, the head of the Pakistani Taliban. The army is currently waging a major offensive against the extremist group in North Waziristan, a tribal region along the border with Afghanistan that has long been a militant stronghold.

"The entire gang involved in the murder attempt... has been busted," Bajwa said, adding that the "terrorists" were part of Tehrik-e-Taliban, an umbrella group encompassing militant organizations across the tribal areas.

Malala, a precocious teenage activist who had called for expanding girls' education in deeply conservative areas of Pakistan, was shot in the head in October 2012 while returning from school. Two other girls were also wounded in the attack.

Malala was initially treated in Pakistan, but was later flown to a hospital in Britain, where she now lives with her family. "This is good news for our family and most importantly, for the people of Pakistan and the civilized world. This first step of apprehending Malala's attackers signifies the beginning of real hope for the hundreds of thousands of people whose lives have been affected by terrorism," Malala's father, Ziauddin Yousafzai, said in a statement.

Malala is from the northwestern Swat Valley, once home to Fazlullah, who was elevated to his current leadership position after his predecessor, Hakimullah Mehsud, was killed in a U.S. drone strike in North Waziristan.

Fazlullah has been on the run since 2009, when Pakistan launched a major offensive in the Swat Valley to eliminate militants who were trying to overthrow the government and impose a harsh version of Islamic law. Islamic extremists believe women should largely confine themselves to the home, and view girls' education as a sinister Western import.

Pakistan believes Fazlullah is hiding in Afghanistan, and Bajwa said Islamabad had raised the issue with the Afghan government. Both countries have long accused each other of ignoring militants who launch cross-border attacks from their territory.

"We will continue our efforts until (Fazlullah) is arrested or killed," Bajwa told a televised news conference in the garrison city of Rawalpindi. He did not say when or where the men were captured, but said security agencies detained all 10 in a coordinated operation acting on information from one of the members of the cell. He said the head of the cell had also been arrested.

"The group acted upon the instructions of Mullah Fazlullah who, while based in Kunar, Afghanistan, passed instructions through his two associates," he said. He added that it was a "known fact" that Fazlullah and other "terrorists" are hiding in Afghanistan.

The arrests come at a time when Pakistan's military is carrying out a major operation against militants in North Waziristan. Pakistan launched the June 15 operation after militants attacked one of the country's busiest airports, in the southern city of Karachi, shocking the nation.

The military says it has so far killed at least 975 militants and that the operation is progressing as planned.

Associated Press writer Jill Lawless in London contributed to this report.

Pakistani Teenager, Indian Activist Awarded Nobel Peace Prize

Malala Yousafzay, the Paskitani teenager (Pictured) and Kailash Satyarthi, Indian Children's rights activist Wins 2014 Nobel Peace Prize for their struggle against the suppression of children and young people and for the right of all children to education. Children must go to school and not be financially exploited. Yousafzay image courtesy of Rebel Society. 

"In the poor countries of the world, 60% of the present population is under 25 years of age.  It is a prerequisite for peaceful global development that the rights of children and young people be respected.  In conflict-ridden areas in particular, the violation of children leads to the continuation of violence from generation to generation.

"Showing great personal courage, Kailash Satyarthi, maintaining Gandhi’s tradition, has headed various forms of protests and demonstrations, all peaceful, focusing on the grave exploitation of children for financial gain.  He has also contributed to the development of important international conventions on children’s rights.

"Despite her youth, Malala Yousafzay has already fought for several years for the right of girls to education, and has shown by example that children and young people, too, can contribute to improving their own situations.  This she has done under the most dangerous circumstances.  Through her heroic struggle she has become a leading spokesperson for girls’ rights to education.

"The Nobel Committee regards it as an important point for a Hindu and a Muslim, an Indian and a Pakistani, to join in a common struggle for education and against extremism.  Many other individuals and institutions in the international community have also contributed.  It has been calculated that there are 168 million child labourers around the world today.  In 2000 the figure was 78 million higher.  The world has come closer to the goal of eliminating child labor.

"The struggle against suppression and for the rights of children and adolescents contributes to the realization of the “fraternity between nations” that Alfred Nobel mentions in his will as one of the criteria for the Nobel Peace Prize."

--------The Norwegian Nobel Committee, October 10, 2014

Pakistan Teen Seeks Release Of Nigerian Girls

Pakistani activist Malala Yousafzai, centre, poses for a photo with her father Ziauddin left, and Nigerian President, Goodluck Jonathan, at the Presidential villa, in Abuja, Nigeria, Monday, July 14, 2014. Malala Yousafzai won a promise from Nigeria’s leader to meet with the parents of some of the 219 schoolgirls held by Islamic extremists for three months. Malala celebrated her 17th birthday on Monday in Nigeria with promises to work for the release of the girls from the Boko Haram movement. Image: Associated Press

ABUJA, NIGERIA (AP) — The Pakistani teen who survived a Taliban assassination attempt in 2012 marked her 17th birthday Monday with a visit to Nigeria and urged Islamic extremists to free the 219 schoolgirls who were kidnapped there, calling them her "sisters."

Malala Yousafzai, who has become an international symbol for women's rights in the face of hard-line Islam, said Nigeria's president promised to meet for the first time with the abducted girls' parents.

"My birthday wish this year is 'Bring Back Our Girls' now and alive," she said, using the social media slogan that has been picked up around the world to demand freedom for the girls, who were abducted by the extremist group Boko Haram in April from a school in the remote northeast Nigerian town of Chibok.

Malala appealed directly to their captors as she held hands with some of the girls who escaped. "Lay down your weapons. Release your sisters. Release my sisters. Release the daughters of this nation. Let them be free. They have committed no crime."

She added: "You are misusing the name of Islam ... Islam is a religion of peace." Malala also spoke against the custom of child brides in her home country, a tradition common in Nigeria, too. Boko Haram has threatened to sell some of the girls as brides if its fighters are not freed.

"Protect girls from cruelty," she said in a speech, explaining that girls should not be forced to marry or to leave school to become brides "when they should be girls," or to give birth to children "when they themselves are children."

Boko Haram attacks continued over the weekend with witnesses blaming the group for the bombing of a major bridge on a northeast Nigerian highway that further limits access to its base camps in the Sambisa Forest, where it is believed to be holding some of the girls.

Gunmen destroyed most of the bridge on the road between Maiduguri and Biu on Saturday night, making it impossible for vehicles to cross, the spokesman for the Nigerian Vigilante Group, Abbas Gava, told The Associated Press.

Malala met Monday with Nigeria's President Goodluck Jonathan and told reporters that the president "promised me that the girls will be returned as soon as possible." She described an emotional meeting Sunday with some of the girls' parents.

"I could see tears in their eyes. They were hopeless. But they seem to have this hope in their hearts," and they were asking if they could meet the president. Jonathan has not met with any of the parents, though some regularly make the dangerous drive from Chibok to join activists who have held daily rallies in Abuja.

When the activists tried to march peacefully to the presidential villa in May, they were blocked by soldiers and police. Jonathan canceled a planned trip to Chibok that same month. On Monday, he told Malala that criticism that his government is not doing enough is "wrong and misplaced," according to a presidential statement.

"The great challenge in rescuing the Chibok girls is the need to ensure that they are rescued alive," he said, insisting his government is "actively pursuing all feasible options" to achieve their safe return.

Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau put out a new video Sunday in which he repeated demands that the government release detained insurgents in exchange for the girls' freedom. "Nigerians are saying 'Bring Back Our Girls,' and we are telling Jonathan to bring back our arrested warriors, our army," he said in the video, which was obtained by the AP through similar channels used for previous messages.

Jonathan so far has refused, despite pleas from the parents. Since the mass abduction, Boko Haram has increased the number and deadliness of its attacks with a two-pronged approach — bombing cities and towns and a scorched-earth strategy in villages, gunning down villagers, looting livestock and burning down huts.

In the new video, Shekau crowed over recent victories, including two explosions at a fuel depot in Lagos that the government tried to cover up. It would be the first reported bombing by Boko Haram in Lagos — Nigeria's commercial capital, an Atlantic port and probably the continent's most populous city with some 20 million people. The attack also raises fears that the insurgency is spreading beyond its stronghold at the opposite end of the country.

At least four people died in the June 25 blasts, including an alleged female suicide bomber, according to Western diplomats who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.

Shekau also claimed responsibility for another bomb that went off hours before at the biggest shopping mall in Nigeria's capital, Abuja, killing at least 21 people. On Monday, Malala also appealed to the Nigerian government to dedicate more money to education and to drastically reduce the hundreds of thousands of children who are out of school throughout the country, not just in the area targeted by Boko Haram.

The group's nickname means "Western education is sinful." Boko Haram wants to enforce an Islamic state in Nigeria, whose 170 million people are almost equally divided between Christians in the south and Muslims in the north.

Faul reported from Lagos, Nigeria. Associated Press writer Bashir Adigun contributed to this report from Abuja, Nigeria.