Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai said Thursday that she could see herself becoming prime minister of her country in about 20 years. "I want to help my country, I want my country to go forward and I'm really patriotic," said 17-year-old Malala, the youngest Nobel laureate ever. "That's why I decided that I'd join politics and maybe one day people will vote for me and I get the majority, I'll become the prime minister," she said.
Asked about her political aspirations during a press conference with Norway's female premier Erna Solberg in Oslo, Malala added that "you can become prime minister when you're 35, not before that, so (it's) like in many years' (time)." The Pakistani teenager became a global icon after she was shot in the head and nearly killed by the Taliban on October 9, 2012 for insisting that girls had a right to education.
Malala said she was inspired by former prime minister Benazir Bhutto who was assassinated in 2007. "She is an example ... giving this message that women can go forward because in some communities women are not supposed to go forward and become a prime minister," said Malala, who now lives in Britain.
Malala is sometimes criticised by opponents in her home country, who have accused her of being a puppet for the West who betrays Muslim values. On Wednesday, she received the Nobel Peace Prize jointly with India's Kailash Satyarthi, who has been fighting against child labour for 35 years.
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