The brave Pakistani girl who defied the Taliban has been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize – a year after she was feted for her bravery twice on Irish soil.
Teenager Malala Yousafzai of Pakistan is to share the 2014 Prize and the $1.1million prize money with the Indian campaigner against child labour Kailash Satyarthi.
Malala has previously received an award for her bravery from Amnesty International which was presented to her by U2 star Bono in Dublin.
She is also a winner of the prestigious Tipperary peace prize, awarded after her harrowing ordeal when Taliban militia boarded her school bus and shot her at point blank range in the head.
The bullet hit her just above her left eye and grazed the edge of her brain.
Malala, just 17, is the youngest recipient of the Nobel prize since it was first established in 1901.
She was only 15 when she was shot in the head by the Taliban in 2012 after campaigning on behalf of girls’ education in the Swat Valley of Pakistan.
The Irish Times reports that she has gone to become a global emblem of her struggle, is celebrated on television and has published a memoir.
She learnt of her win at school in the English city of Birmingham where she has lived since receiving treatment for her gunshot wounds.
She said: “I’m proud that I’m the first Pakistani and the first young woman, or the first young person, who is getting this award.”
Thorbjorn Jagland, the committee’s chairman, said: “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.”
Satyarthi told Indian TV: “If with my humble efforts the voice of tens of millions of children in the world who are living in servitude is being heard, congratulations to all.”
Malala and Satyarthi have spoken by telephone and have agreed to work together to help the fortunes of children.
They also hope to help their two countries overcome their differencesShe was airlifted to Britain and treated at Birmingham’s Queen Elizabeth Hospital, where doctors fitted a titanium plate and cochlear implant.
Pakistan President Asif Ali Zardari visited her in hospital.
Tipperary Peace Convention spokesman Martin Quinn said at the time that he was delighted the teenager had agreed to accept the award in person in Co Tipperary.
He said: “Malala now joins the illustrious list of past recipients of the peace prize, which includes former prime minister of Pakistan, the late Benazir Bhutto.”
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