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Malala seeks to come Pakistan, join politics
*In meetings with Obama, Elizabeth Nobel laureate persuades them to invest on education* also urges Pakistan, India to spend on education
APPISLAMABAD – Nobel Peace prize winner 17-year-old Malala Yousafzai urged Pakistan and India to spend on education of children while putting aside their differences.
In an interview to state broadcaster PTV along with her father and mother in United Kingdom, she again invited Prime Ministers Nawaz Sharif and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to attend the award ceremony of Nobel Peace Prize to be held in December.
Malala said that she would spend her share of the $1.1 million prize money on projects for education in Pakistan. She said that focus should be on the education of girls and she has gained enough experience to continue to advocate and urge 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 said. She said that she was not expecting to win Nobel Peace Prize.
“I was in my chemistry class and I was not that much concerned, then the teacher came and told me that I have won the Nobel Peace Prize. All teachers and students gathered in the assembly and I nervously made a little speech before them,” she recalled.
Malala Yousafzai said one of her projects from the prize money will be to set up a high quality school in Pakistan. "When I started working for education, my first project was a school for working children in Swat,” she said while telling about Malala Fund set up by her.
She said that the aim of Malala Fund is that children in Pakistan get education facilities. Her Malala Fund is also supporting 25 orphan kids for lifetime in a project run by an organisation in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. Malala emphasised that her goal was to convince everybody to invest in education and in her meetings with global leaders like President Barack Obama and Queen Elizabeth, she persuaded them to invest and focus on education.
To a question, she said always told the reality about the situation in Swat and many times pointed out that Taliban were responsible for stopping girls from going to school. “Its true that I live abroad but my heart and mind are in Pakistan. When I opened my eyes for the first time in UK, I was in Birmingham hospital and then my parents came and gradually we settled down in Pakistan,” To a question about her stay in United Kingdom, Malala said.
“I have special kind of feeling of love for Pakistan. Here in UK there is a lot of cold but in Swat we enjoyed four seasons." Malala 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."
Malala advised all political parties to work for the progress and prosperity of Pakistan. "We should work collectively. We have to be united and aim of political parties should be to provide basic facilities like food and education to the people,” she remarked. Malala said her efforts have a favourable impact on the education sector in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.
"International community wants to focus on education in a sustainable manner due to my efforts," she said. 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.
To a question about criticism against them, he said, "Our arrival in United Kingdom was an incident and our recognition by the international community was because of special circumstances." He requested people not to blindly follow those who have biased opinion against them.
"There are reasons for doubts of people as there is a gulf between Pakistan and the West and the United States,” he said. Malala's mother Taur Pakai said for her every girl is like Malala and should be supported. She said that she missed Pakistan and they were living in England for the sake of Malala. "Our life revolves around Malala," she added.
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk