A million signatures for Malala

Britain’s former prime minister Gordon Brown on Friday presented a petition with more than a million signatures in support of shot schoolgirl education campaigner Malala Yousafzai to the Pakistan government. At a meeting in Islamabad attended by Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari, Brown, the UN’s special envoy for global education, said the international community was ready to support Pakistan in its efforts to tackle poverty and ensure all children could go to school. In London, meanwhile, campaigners said on Friday more than 87,000 people have signed a global petition calling for Malala to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Brown arrived in Pakistan to call for education for all children and to mark Malala Day — Saturday — a global “day of action” in support of Malala and girls’ education. Malala thanked people around the world for their support on Friday in a message from hospital passed on by her father. The 15-year-old is recovering in hospital in Britain after being shot in the head by Taliban members a month ago in Pakistan’s northwestern Swat Valley for the “crime” of promoting girls’ right to go to school. “A Nobel Peace Prize for Malala will send a clear message that the world is watching and will support those who stand up for the right of girls to get an education,” said Shahida Choudhary, a British campaigner involved in the petition.