A policeman stands guard in front of the Malala Yousafzai Girls School in Karachi yesterday.
MIRANSHAH: The Pakistani Taliban said yesterday they were “delighted” Malala Yousafzai, the teenage education activist they tried to kill, missed out on the Nobel Peace Prize.
The Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) shot Malala in the head in her school bus on October 9 last year for speaking out against them.
After the shooting she was flown to Britain for specialist care and made a remarkable recovery, going on to become a global ambassador for children’s rights.
Spokesman Shahidullah Shahid told AFP the 16-year-old had done nothing to deserve the Nobel, which went to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) for its work to rid the world of chemical arms.
“We are delighted that she didn’t get it. She did nothing big so it’s good that she didn’t get it,” Shahid said by telephone from an undisclosed location.
“This award should be given to the real Muslims who are struggling for Islam. Malala is against Islam, she is secular.”
Malala won the European Parliament’s Sakharov rights prize on Thursday, which the TTP condemned in similar terms, claiming “her struggle against Islam” was the reason the West was honouring her.
Feted by world leaders and celebrities, Malala has addressed the UN, published an autobiography, and would have been the youngest Nobel Peace Prize laureate if she had won. Agencies
