Pakistani schoolgirl tells UN: extremists ‘afraid of books and pen’

Pakistan teenager Malala Yousafzai reaffirms her message the Taliban and other extremists “do not understand the importance of education.” The Taliban were among “people who think that when a woman goes to school she will be empowered, and they are afraid of it,” she emphasized. She also says she does not want to be known as the girl the Taliban tried to kill but as “the girl who struggled for her rights.” A day after making a widely hailed speech at the United Nations, the 16-year-old said she would devote her life for the education of girls. The UN appearance was Malala’s first public speaking engagement since a Taliban gunman shot her in the head last October in a bid to end her campaign to get girls into schools. The teenager, considered a strong candidate for the Nobel Peace Prize, said she was determined to keep her her struggle “for a right to live in peace, for a right to go to school.”

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