ISLAMABAD: Seventeen-year-old Nobel Peace prize winner Malala Yousafzai on Friday urged Pakistan and India to spend on children’s education while putting aside their differences.
In an interview to state broadcaster PTV along with her father and mother in the United Kingdom, she invited both the Prime Minister of Pakistan and India yet again to attend the award ceremony of Nobel Peace Prize to be held in December.
Malala said that she will spend her share of the $1.1 million prize money on educational projects in Pakistan, and set up a high quality school in Pakistan.
She insisted that the focus should be on educating girls, and believed that she has gained enough experience to continue advocating and urging people to invest in education.
“We have to work together, as 57 million children are still out of school in Pakistan. My dream is that every Pakistani child should get good quality education,” she added.
Clearly, Malala was not expecting to win the Nobel Peace Prize.
“I was in my chemistry class and the teacher told me that I have won the Nobel Peace Prize,” she recalled. “All teachers and students gathered in the school assembly and I nervously made a little speech before them.”
“When I started working for education, my first project was a school for working children in Swat,” she revealed while talking about the Malala Fund. “The aim of Malala Fund is that children in Pakistan get education facilities.”
Malala emphasised that her goal is to convince everybody to invest in education and that in her meetings with global leaders including President Barack Obama and Queen Elizabeth, she has been persuading them to invest and focus on education.
To a question about her stay in the United Kingdom, Malala stressed, “it’s true that I live abroad but my heart and mind is in Pakistan.”
She said her soul is in Swat and she is hopeful to go back to Pakistan and join politics.
“My vision is to create awareness and resolve problems of the people. I want to start politics at local level and then move to the national and international level after gaining experience,” she enlightened.
Malala advised all political parties to work for the progress and prosperity of Pakistan.
“We should work collectively, and have to be united. The aim of political parties should be to provide basic facilities like food and education to the people,” remarked Malala.
“International community wants to focus on education in a sustainable manner due to my efforts,” she underscored.
Malala’s father Ziauddin Yousafzai congratulated Pakistani nation for winning the Nobel prize and said he always told school going girls in Swat to pursue their dreams.
He requested people not to blindly follow those who have biased opinions against the family.
Malala’s mother Taur Pakai, stated that every girl is like Malala and should be supported. She declared that she missed Pakistan so much that the family was living in England because of Malala. “Our life revolves around Malala,” she added.
