Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Tuesday awarded the first National Peace Award for Youth to Malala Yousufzai for her courageous stance to promote education and peace under hostile conditions in Malakand Division. Gilani also awarded Rs 0.5 million in cash to the teenager from Swat and congratulated her and her parents for reaching out to her classmates to continue their studies despite the militancy. On Malali’s request, Gilani directed that an IT campus be set-up in the Degree College for Women, Swat to provide higher computer education to girls. Malala Yousufzai got the attention of the world for encouraging her fellow students to continue their studies despite threats by the militants and extremists before and after the military operation in Malakand Division. Malala was one of the top-five contenders, from amongst 148 children from all over the world, for the International Peace Prize in South Africa.
She became the first recipient of the National Peace Award for Youth. The Prime Minister announced that the Award be named as “National Malala Peace Prize” and will be given to outstanding youth upto 18 years old. Cabinet Secretary Nargis Sethi said Malala Yousufzai was the role-model for the youth of Pakistan who played a key-role for promotion of education despite her young age.
