French president hails Malala as global symbol for equal education

Zardari meets Hollande, says 'every Malala has a right to education'.


Afp December 11, 2012

PARIS: French President Francois Hollande Tuesday hailed Pakistani teen Malala Yousafzai, who was shot by the Taliban for championing girls' education, as a global emblem of the thirst for knowledge.

Hollande, who met Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari, said the 15-year-old was the "symbol of a young girl who fought for access to knowledge and education", adding: "We all share Malala's spirit."

Malala is recovering in a British hospital after being brutally attacked on her school bus on October 9.

Zardari, whose government on Monday donated $10 million for a global war chest aimed at educating all girls by 2015, told Hollande that "every child, every Malala, has a right to education."

The Pakistan leader had also slammed Islamic fundamentalists for giving the religion a bad name.

"The first word of the Holy Quran is 'Iqra' which is read," he said, attacking the "fringe minority of darkness, of hatred, of conflict.

"What extremists fear is a girl with a book in her hand," he said.

The UN estimates that 61 million children do not go to school and girls account for two-thirds of this number.

In an attack that shocked the world, Malala was shot in the head as punishment for the "crime" of campaigning for girls' rights to go to school.

She survived the murder attempt but requires reconstructive surgery after the bullet grazed her brain, coming within centimetres of killing her.

COMMENTS (8)

sana zahra | 11 years ago | Reply

Malala is just being used for this, the real thing is what we have not imagined. The think tanks plan everything and that small kid is being taken for a ride with his father. Yeah one can say it a lottery ticket because , the most heard news is that Malala is now going to work for as a pakistani representative in the worlds education council and she is the most youngest in that group! well we really don't know what they plan,though its all planned!.

Falcon | 11 years ago | Reply

We are proud of you Malala

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