A Pakistani school pupil and education activist. The Pakistani schoolgirl, Malala Yousafzai, shot by the Taliban has astonished the world with her courage and determination to fight for education and equal rights for women. There was her speech at the United Nations, delivered on her 16th birthday, in which, index finger pointed defiantly skywards, she exhorted the world's children to 'pick up our books and our pens… the most powerful weapons.' She was named joint winner of the 2014 Noble Peace Prize for the 'struggle against the suppression of children and young people and for the right of all children to education.' The Noble Committee said Malala had 'become a leading spokesperson for girls' rights to education.' Malala is the youngest recipient in the history of the peace prize, which has been awarded to 127 laureates since 1901. She had earned a standing ovation at the European parliament in Strasbourg for a speech in which she accepted the Sakharov Prize. She was awarded National Malala Peace Prize and International Children's Peace Prize. She visited the White House for a meeting with the President Barack Obama and visited Buckingham Palace for tea with the Queen. The books that Malala was helped to write are I AM MALALA, The Girl Who Stood Up for Education and Was Shot by the Taliban. Malala's celebrity and near-universal acclaim in the West is mirrored by indifference back in Pakistan. Many Pakistanis asked why this girl should be singled out for sympathy when so many had suffered, including at the hands of American drones? Malala Yousafzai was born in Mingora in the Swat district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province.