Imran Khan PTI Avoids a Resolution in Praising First Pashtun Noble Prize Winner of Pakhutnkhwa Malalaa Yousafzai.

PESHAWAR: A resolution for Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai has got stuck in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Assembly secretariat as Jamaat-i-Islami, a partner of the Pakistan Tehreek-i- Insaf-led ruling coalition in the province, has made its inclusion in the house’s agenda conditional on the tabling of a similar resolution for scientist Dr Aafia Siddiqui imprisoned in the US over links to terrorists.

Law and parliamentary affairs minister Imtiaz Shahid Qureshi told Dawn that PTI would support its coalition partner on the matter.

He expressed ignorance about keeping the resolution pending in the assembly secretariat.

The minister said some lawmakers had reservations about the resolution and was not sure if the Awami National Party would gather support of the opposition parties in favour of its pro-Malala move.

Notably PTI chairman Imran Khan had congratulated Malala on winning Nobel Peace Prize. However, the PTI-led provincial government did not issue any statement to praise the teenage activist for girls’ education.

ANP MPA Syed Jafar Shah had submitted the resolution to the assembly secretariat on October 20, which has so far not been brought on the house’s agenda.

Jafar Shah told reporters that he had requested Speaker Asad Qaisar to put the resolution on the agenda but the latter showed reluctance.

“It may create problems for us,” Jafar Shah quoted Speaker Asad Qaisar as saying during a meeting.
JI opposed to move until pro-Aafia resolution made part of house agenda

He said the Senate, National Assembly and Punjab and Sindh assemblies had passed resolutions to congratulate Malala Yousafzai on receiving Nobel Peace Prize.

The MPA said Punjab Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif had announced to establish a university in the name of Malala. He said the young activist belonged to Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and therefore, the provincial assembly should take the lead.

“I don’t know why the government is so scared about the resolution,” he said, adding that he had suggested in his resolution that the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government should set up university in the name of the Nobel laureate.

When the house began proceedings on Tuesday, Pakistan People’s Party MPA Nighat Orakzai through a point of order drew Speaker Asad Qaisar’s attention towards the resolution.

She said not only Malala Yousafzai was a national hero but she was an international icon as well.

Orakzai said Malala’s efforts for the promotion of education had been recognised around the world and that she was given the Nobel Peace Prize and other international awards in recognition of her courage and contributions for the promotion of education.

“This is very unfortunate that a resolution submitted by a member of the opposition has been intentionally blocked,” she said, asking the chair to bring the resolution for Malala on the house’s agenda.

The MPA said the treasury and opposition should unanimously pass resolution.

Lawmaker of Jamaat-i-Islami Mohammad Ali Khan said Dr Aafia Siddiqui was the daughter of the nation and that he had great contributions for Islam. He said the house should pass a joint resolution for Dr Aafia and Malala.

Speaker Asad Qaisar remained silent on the point of order raised by Nighat Orakzai and moved to the agenda.

Insiders said Jamiat Ulema-i-Islam-Fazl, which had been opposing Nobel Peace Prize for Malala, was also not in favour of the resolution.

A JUI-F MPA told Dawn in the assembly’s lobby that his party might not support the resolution.

“I have informed my friends (ANP lawmakers) that he will not support the resolution,” he said, adding everybody knew the motive behind the award of Nobel Peace Prize to Malala.

In January this year, the provincial government had stopped a civil society organisation from organising a ceremony at the University of Peshawar to launch the book of the Nobel laureate, I am Malala.

Similarly, the banned militant outfit, Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan, had warned leading booksellers against selling the book.

Also, the house admitted an adjournment motion about the prevailing law and order situation in the province for detailed discussion.

JUI-F member Mufti Syed Janan, who moved the motion, portrayed the worst scenario in the province.

He said 44 policemen and other officials were killed in Peshawar in 2013 and the number had reached 138 in the current year.

The MPA said the nighttime flight operations at the Bacha Khan International Airport had been suspended due to the recent firing incident. He said the government had failed to provide protection to citizens and that the government’s writ had been confined to the Civil Secretariat and Police Lines.

Later, the Delimitation of Local Councils Ordinance, 2014 and Local Government (Second Amendment) Ordinance, 2014 were tabled in the house.

The assembly passed the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Civil Servants Retirement Benefits and Death Compensation Bill, 2014 after incorporating several amendments of the opposition in it.

Published in Dawn, October 29th , 2014
source: http://www.dawn.com/news/1141110/good-words-for-malala-stuck-in-kp-assembly-secretariat

Iconic Malalaa Yousafzai Pashtun Girl Youngest Ever winner of Noble Peace Prize.

 

OSLO: The Nobel Peace Prize went Friday to 17-year-old Pakistani Malala Yousafzai and India’s Kailash Satyarthi for their work promoting children’s rights.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee awarded the prize saying that peaceful global development can only come about if children and the young are respected.

Malala is the youngest person to be awarded the globally prestigious annual prize. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has congratulated teenage education campaigner Malala Yousafzai on winning the Nobel Peace Prize, calling her the “pride” of hiscountry.

“She is (the) pride of Pakistan. She has made her countrymen proud. Her achievement is unparallelled and unequalled. Girls and boys of the world should take the lead

from her struggle and commitment,” he said in astatement.

A number of congratulatory messages came pouring in as soon as the announcement of her win was made. The messages can beviewed here.

“The Nobel Committee regards it as an important point for a Hindu and a Muslim, an Indian and a Pakistani, to join in a common struggle for education and against extremism,” the Nobel committeesaid in a press release which canbe viewed here.

“The Norwegian Nobel Committeehas decided that the Nobel Peace Prize for 2014 is to be awarded to Kailash Satyarthi and Malala Yousafzai for their struggle against the suppression of children and young people and for the right of all children to education,” the jury said. The chairman of the Norwegian Nobel Committee ThorbjornJagland, announces

that education activist Malala Yousafzai and Kailash Satyarthi, Indian anti-child labour activist have been awarded the Nobel Peace

Prize 2014 at the Nobel Institute in Oslo on October 10, 2014. PHOTO:

AFP Malala Yousafzai — who survived being shot in the head by the Taliban in 2012 — was recognised for fighting for years for the right of girls to education, showing by example that children can contribute to improving their own situations. “This she has done under the most dangerous circumstances,” the committee said. “Through her heroic struggle she has become a leading spokespersonfor girls’ rights to education.”

It also said that the prize recognised work by Satyarthi to head various forms of protestsand demonstrations, all peaceful,focusing on the grave exploitationof children for financial gain. “Children must go to school andnot be financially exploited,” thecommittee said. “In conflict-ridden areas inparticular, the violation of children

leads to the continuation of  violence from generation to

generation.”

She is the second Pakistani tobecome a Nobel laureate after Abdus Salam who also shared the prize in 1979 with US nominee Steven Weinberg for physics. On July 12, 2013, Malala gave a powerful speech at the UN which

can be viewed here .

There was no clear frontrunner ahead of Friday’s Nobel PeacePrize announcement, with a

Russian opposition newspaper, Tunisia’s democratic leadership, Pakistan schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai and Pope Francis among a record number of candidates.

As in previous years, the chairman

of the Norwegian Nobel Committee,

Thorbjoern Jagland, will reveal the

laureate’s name at 0900 GMT at the

Nobel Institute in Oslo. The Nobel committee considered a record 278 candidates, but only those made public by their sponsors have been named.

The Nobel committee’s deliberations continued almost until the last minute and a decision wasn’t reached until last week, public broadcaster NRK reported.

The broadcaster, which sometimes

but not always has been able to

predict the winner, wrote on its

website that Tunisia’s powerful

UGTT workers union and President

Moncef Marzouki were among this

year’s favourites.

“Union can beat out Malala

tomorrow,” it wrote on its website.

The UGTT was nominated for its

role in Tunisia’s democratic

transition, brokering political

negotiations that resulted in a post-

revolution constitution being

signed.

Marzouki, a secular ally of the

moderate party Ennahda, was

chosen as president in Tunisia’s

first election since dictator Zine El

Abidine was toppled in 2011.

Pundits have also suggested that

individuals or groups from the

Russian opposition could be a

popular choice for the Nobel

Committee.

“Russia’s policy in Ukraine,

annexing Crimea and questioning

borders, but also the way the

Kremlin treats dissenters cannot be

ignored by the Nobel committee,”

said Antoine Jacob, author of a

history of the Nobel prizes.

For the Nobel committee president

Thorbjoern Jagland, “sanctioning

Moscow would… be a way to prove

that he acts independently, since

(Jagland) is (also) the Secretary

General of the Council of Europe,

which counts Russia as a member,”

Jacob told AFP.

Co-founded by Mikhail Gorbachev

in 1993 with part of his peace prize

money, the pro-democracy Moscow

newspaper Novaya Gazeta has

been tipped as a possible laureate.

It is one of the few independent

media outlets left in Russia and has

seen several of its journalists

murdered, including Anna

Politkovskaya who exposed huge

human rights abuses in Chechnya.

Pope Francis has become a

bookmakers’ favourite for speaking

out on poverty.

“Today everything comes under the

laws of competition and the

survival of the fittest, where the

powerful feed upon the powerless,”

the first Latin American pope

argued in an exhortation last year.

Experts have cited Edward

Snowden, the former intelligence

analyst who revealed the extent of

US global eavesdropping, as an

outside candidate.

However, most experts say he

would be a controversial choice for

the 878,000-euro ($1.11-million)

award. Pakistani girls’ education

campaigner Malala Yousafzai, a

favourite last year, is once again

being mentioned by observers

although many say her young age

makes her a somewhat less likely

choice for the committee.

It could also increase the terror

threat against the 17-year-old, who

pushed Nigerian president

Goodluck Jonathan to meet with

the parents of hundreds of girls

who were kidnapped by the

Islamist group Boko Haram.

Kristian Berg Harpviken, director

of the Peace Research Institute Oslo

(PRIO), a leading peace prize

analyst and one of the few to

publish a shortlist, put the peace

group Japanese People Who

Conserve Article 9 — which wants

to maintain the Asian country’s

anti-war constitution — in first

place.

“We may have come to think of

wars between states as virtually

extinct after the end of the Cold

War, but events in Ukraine and

simmering tensions in East Asia

remind us they may reappear,” he

wrote.

Among the other main contenders

was favourites were Congolese

doctor Denis Mukwege, also tipped

last year, who has treated female

victims of sexual violence for the

last 25 years, and the human rights

activist Ales Bialiatski from

Belarus, who was released from

prison by the Russian-backed

dictatorship in June.

Source: http://tribune.com.pk/story/773258/malala-yousafzai-shares-nobel-peace-prize-with-indian-activist/