Pak teenage crusader Malala nominated for Nobel Peace Prize

New Delhi, Feb 1: She could become the youngest to win a Nobel Prize. Pakistani schoolgirl-turned-fighter for women's empowerment Malala Yousafzai has been nominated for this year's

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The deadline for nominations was today. French, Canadian and Norwegian MPs have all separately nominated Malala. The award will be announced in early October.

Malala Yousafzai, all of fifteen, was shot by a Taliban gunman at point blank range in a school bus on October 9 last year. She was targeted for promoting girls' education in conservative border area of Swat Valley in Pakistan. She was flown to UK and treated in Birmingham's Queen Elizabeth Hospital for her near fatal wounds.

Though she has recovered, a crucial operation to cover her skull with a special titanium patch is scheduled in next ten days. The 14-year-old will have a specially made titanium plate fitted to her skull, followed by a cochlear implant to help her recover hearing in her left ear. Malala will have both operations, which will take about 90 minutes each, within the next 10 days.

The brutal attack on her drew world wide protest and she has since become an internationally recognised symbol of opposition to the Taliban's drive to deny women education, and against religious extremism. In early 2009, still in pre-teens, Malala wrote a blog under a pseudonym for the BBC detailing her life under Taliban rule and her views on promoting education for girls

"A prize to Malala would not only be timely and fitting with a line of awards to champions of human rights and democracy, but also ... would set both children and education on the peace and conflict agenda," said the head of the Peace Research Institute of Oslo, Kristian Berg Harpviken.

OneIndia News