London : Pakistani campaigner for girls’ education Malala Yousafzai Friday said she is greatly honoured to share the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize with Indian child rights activist Kailash Satyarthi.
Addressing a press conference late Friday afternoon in Birmingham after the Norwegian Nobel Committee earlier in the day named her and Satyarthi the joint winners of this year’s peace Nobel, Malala said she and her co-recipient would together work for child rights and education.
“One (recipient of the prize) is from Pakistan and one is from India. One believes in Hinduism and I strongly believe in Islam… I was greatly inspired by the work of Kailash Satyarthi,” she said.
She said that winning the Nobel Prize was not the end of the road for her.
“I will continue my campaign for children’s education.”
Speaking about her days in Pakistan when the Taliban was closing girls’ schools, she said she had two options – to stay silent or to raise her voice.
“I decided to speak up. I realised that without reading, I cannot be who I want to be in life,” Malala said.
“At that time (before she was shot in the head by a Taliban militant in October 2012 when she was on her way to school), I wanted to be a doctor. But now I want to be a good politician.”
She said she believed that the Nobel Committee has not just given the prize to her “but to all those children whose voices need to be heard”.
“This honour is for all of them.”
Prior to the press conference, she said, she had a telephonic conversation with co-recipient Satyarthi.
“We discussed and decided that we will work together for children’s rights,” she said.
“Both of us will will work together for good relations between India and Pakistan.”
She also appealed to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Pakistani counterpart Nawaz Sharif to join her and Satyarthi at the function where they will receive the award.
Talking about her reaction to the news that she had won the award while in school Friday, she said she went about her classes normally and thanked her teachers and schoolmates who wished her.