Malala Yousafzai become the youngest ever recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize today – and the 17-year-old has set her sights on becoming Pakistan’s prime minister in her future.
Speaking ahead of today’s ceremony in Oslo, Norway, the 17-year-old said she hopes to pursue a career in politics after finishing her education in the UK.
Malala was presented with her award at a star-studded ceremony, attended by Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler, Queen Latifah and the Norwegian royal family.
‘I want to serve my country and my dream is that my country becomes a developed country and I see every child get an education,’ Malala told BBC HARDtalk.
‘If I can serve my country best through politics and through becoming a prime minister then I would definitely choose that.’
Arriving in Norway with friends and young activists from Pakistan, Syria and Nigeria, Malala met thousands of children and walked the streets of Oslo ahead of the ceremony.
‘I tell my story, not because it is unique, but because it is not,’ Malala said as she received the award in Oslo’s ornate city hall on the anniversary of Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel’s death.
Addressing being the youngest ever recipient Malala said: ‘I am pretty certain that I am also the first recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize who still fights with her younger brothers.
‘I want there to be peace everywhere, but my brothers and I are still working on that.’
Shortly after her speech, the awards ceremony was disrupted by a protester who ran onto the stage as she was presented with her award.
A young man waving the Mexican flag stormed the stage but was quickly interrupted by security and later arrested.
Oslo Police said the man is a medical student from Mexico who applied for asylum in Norway yesterday, a few weeks after arriving in the Scandinavian nation.
The man’s motive is not yet known, but he was seen trying to say something to Malala on stage in Oslo, Norway this afternoon.
After the young man was removed by security, the ceremony honouring the winners of the Nobel Peace Prize continued as normal.
Malala was jointly awarded the prize with and Indian activist Kailash Satyarthi.
Miss Yousafzai became a household name after her campaigning for girls’ right to education led to an assassination attempt by the Taliban two years ago, and has worked tirelessly as a human rights campaigner following her recovery.
Malala currently lives with her father, mother and two brothers in Birmingham, attending a local school.
She has since written a book, I Am Malala, spoken to international audiences and on television and has been been showered with human rights prizes, including the European Parliament’s Sakharov Award.
Miss Yousafzai was barely 11 years old when she began championing girls’ education, speaking out in TV interviews.
The Taliban had overrun her home town of Mingora, terrorizing residents, threatening to blow up girls’ schools, ordering teachers and students into the all-encompassing burqas.
She was critically injured in October 2012, when a Taliban gunman boarded her school bus and shot her in the head.
A bullet narrowly missed her brain and she was later airlifted to Britain for specialist treatment at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, where she underwent numerous surgeries and made a strong recovery.
In September the Pakistani military arrested ten men, all part of the Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP), for the attempted murder of Malala.
Her fellow recipient, Satyarthi, who is credited with saving around 80,000 children from slave labour sometimes in violent confrontations, kept a modest profile in Oslo and even conceded to being overshadowed by Malala surrounded by admirers.
‘I’ve lost two of my colleagues,’ Satyarthi said about his work.
‘Carrying the dead body of a colleague who is fighting for the protection of children is something I’ll never forget, even as I sit here to receive the Nobel Peace Prize.’
Nobel Prize winners in literature, chemistry, physics, medicin eand economics are currently gathering in Stockholm, due to receive their prizes from the King of Sweden later in the day.
