Malala
Yousafzai (Pashto: ملاله یوسفزۍ Malālah Yūsafzay, born 12 July 1997) is a
school student and education activist from the town of Mingora in the Swat
District of Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. She is known for her
education and women's rights activism in the Swat Valley, where the Taliban had
at times banned girls from attending school. In early 2009, at the age of
11/12, Yousafzai wrote a blog under a pseudonym for the BBC detailing her life
under Taliban rule, their attempts to take control of the valley, and her views
on promoting education for girls. The following summer, a New York Times
documentary was filmed about her life as the Pakistani military intervened in
the region, culminating in the Second Battle of Swat. Yousafzai began to rise
in prominence, giving interviews in print and on television and taking a
position as chairperson of the District Child Assembly Swat. She has since been
nominated for the International Children's Peace Prize by Desmond Tutu and has
won Pakistan's first National Youth Peace Prize. A number of prominent
individuals, including the Canadian Minister of Citizenship, are supporting a
petition to nominate Yousafzai for the Nobel Peace Prize.
On 9
October 2012, Yousafzai was shot in the head and neck in an assassination
attempt by Taliban gunmen while returning home on a school bus. In the days
immediately following the attack, she remained unconscious and in critical
condition, but later her condition improved enough for her to be sent to a
hospital in the United Kingdom for intensive rehabilitation. On 12 October, a
group of 50 Islamic clerics in Pakistan issued a fatwā against those who tried
to kill her, but the Taliban reiterated its intent to kill Yousafzai and her
father, Ziauddin.
Former
British Prime Minister and current UN Special Envoy for Global Education Gordon
Brown launched a United Nations petition in Yousafzai's name, using the slogan
"I am Malala" and demanding that all children worldwide be in school
by the end of 2015. Brown said he would hand the petition to Pakistan's
President Asif Ali Zardari in November. UN secretary general Ban Ki-Moon has
announced that 10 November will be celebrated as Malala Day.
From: www.wikipedia.org
