Pakistani Girl Shot By Taliban Brings Experiences To New York
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) -- A Pakistani teenager shot by the Taliban for promoting education for girls came to New York City to speak about her experiences and her memoir.
Malala Yousafzai and her father, a human rights activist who founded an all-girls school, was interviewed by CNN correspondent Christiane Amanpour at the 92nd Street Y in Manhattan on Thursday night.
Pakistani Girl Shot By Taliban Brings Experiences To New York
Tickets were $54.
The Nobel Peace Prize contender was shot in the head in October last year by a Taliban gunman in an assassination attempt that drew attention worldwide to the struggle for women's rights in her homeland.
"On top of my list this year is Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani 16-year-old who had stood up to the right to education for women and girls and for the fight against extremism," the Director of Oslo's Peace Research Institute said.
At 16, Yousafzai became the youngest nominee ever.
"I'm really happy to be nominated," she said.
Yousafzai originally wrote under a fake name when she criticized the Taliban for shutting down girls' schools. In October 2012 a Taliban gunman shot her in the head as she rode home on a school bus.
She chronicles the attack and its aftermath in her book, "I Am Malala.''
Militants have already threatened to kill her if she returns to Pakistan.
In spite of the threats Yousufzai told The Daily Show's jon Stewart that she will not be silenced and will continue to spread the message that knowledge is power.
"We are human beings and this is part of our human nature, that we don't learn the importance of anything until it is snatched from our hands. And, when in Pakistan we were stopped from going to school, at that time I realized that education is very important and education is the power for women and that's why the terrorists are afraid of education. They do not want women to get an education because then women would become more powerful," she said.
The European Parliament announced Thursday that Malala won the $65,000 Sakharov Award, Europe's top human rights award, CBS 2's Kristine Johnson reported.
You May Also Be Interested In These Stories:
(TM and © Copyright 2013 CBS Radio Inc. and its relevant subsidiaries. CBS RADIO and EYE Logo TM and Copyright 2013 CBS Broadcasting Inc. Used under license. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
