Nobel Peace Prize For Pakistani Girl Malala Yousafzai?

In 1971, during the liberation war for Bangladesh, like other youngsters of my age I considered Pakistan as the arch enemy to my people and the nation. But I write today to tell people that Pakistan is not only about the Talibans, Islamic Jihadists and extreme religious zealots, Pakistan is also about Shahida Choudhary and Malala Yousafzai, who would make any nation proud, even the United States.

Of course, the world knows, Malala Yousafzai is a 15-yr old Pakistani girl who was shot at by a Taliban assailant on October 9, 2012, along with two of her school mates in Swat valley. Her offence? She wants education for herself and her people.

A campaign called, “Nobel Prize for Malala” has been started by Tarek Fatah, a writer and broadcaster, who lives in Canada on Change.org. The campaign took a global wing when Choudhary, a resident of UK called upon the UK Prime Minister David Cameronand other top leaders to nominate the 15-year-old Pakistani teen for the most coveted peace Prize of the world.

The petition is addressed to British Foreign Secretary William Hague, Foreign Secretary Douglas Alexander and the three main party leaders: Prime Minister David Cameron, Deputy PM Nick Clegg and Opposition Leader Ed Miliband. Over 100,000 people have already signed that petition. These people are from across many religious lines, cast, creed and nationhood. They are people, white, black, yellow and crimson, they are the sons and daughters God will be proud of.

Shahida herself was taken out of school in the UK when she was only sixteen. She was taken to Pakistan and forced into marriage. She escaped the unhappy marriage to return to the UK at the age of 28 to resume education. she set up a network in Birmingham to support women in need. She said, “Malala doesn't just represent one young woman, she speaks out for all those who are denied an education purely on the basis of their gender. There are girls like Malala in the UK and across the world. I was one of them. I started this petition because a Nobel peace prize for Malala will send a clear message that the world is watching and will support those who stand up for the right of girls to get an education.”

So far Malala’s nomination has won support from Canada’s four largest political parties and other countries including France and Spain. Nobel committee rules stipulate that for any nomination to be considered, members of national assemblies and governments must support that nomination.

The deadline is February, so hurry up people; sign the petition to influence your leaders. And when the nomination reaches the Swedish committee, it would be a great opportunity for them to redeem themselves from the sin they committed by awarding Peace Prize to a war criminal such as President Barack Obama.

Sign the petition at Change.org Nobel Prize for Malala.

The article was previously published on Technorati.