Malala Nobel award ‘good news’ for Pakistan

The award of the Nobel Peace Prize 2014 to Malala Yousafzai “is good news for all of Pakistan and puts the issue of women’s rights and the right to education at the centre of public debate”, the Pakistan Catholic Bishops’ National Commission for Justice and Peace said in response to the announcement of the award.

Fauzia Jacob, the national co­ordinator at the Catholic Women’s Organisation of Pakistan, was more sceptical. “I don’t know whether the prize will have a direct and immediate positive impact on the status of women in Pakistan,” she said. “We certainly hope it will.” At 17, Miss Yousafzai is the youngest ever recipient of the prize. In 2012, she was shot in the head by Taliban gunmen for campaigning for girls’ education. The prize was also awarded to Kailash Satyarthi, 60, an Indian activist for the rights of children.