A Pakistani teen who was shot in the head by the Taliban for advocating girls education spoke in New York Thursday night, saying that extremists can “kill” her, but she’s “never going to give up.”
Malala Yousafzai, 16, who spoke at the 92nd Street Y on the Upper East Side, had been considered by many to be a top contender for the Nobel Peace Prize. The prize was awarded instead to the chemical-weapons watchdog The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, it was announced early Friday.
But the teen said Thursday night that winning the award would be “such a great honor” and could help her spread awareness about girls’ right to education, the humble hero added that it would be “more than I deserve.”
The teen was shot last year while advocating for girls education in the Taliban-plagued Swat district of Pakistan.
“I want to tell the Taliban, be peaceful, fight through your words,” Malala said. “I’m never going to give up. They can kill me, but it doesn’t mean they can kill causes as well.”
Malala bravely encouraged other young women in Pakistan to go to school and said that she would like to one day become the prime minister of her country.
“They can only shoot a body, they cannot shoot my dreams,” she said during the discussion, which was conducted by CNN’s Christiane Amanpour.
“Even death does not want to kill me. Now I’m totally not afraid of death.”
Yousafzai visited The Daily Show with Jon Stewart on Tuesday.