Malala Yousafzai and Kailash Satyarthi Win Nobel Peace Prize

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Exactly two years and a day after Taliban gunmen shot her in the head for daring to speak up for the rights of a girl to get an education, Malala Yousafzai of Pakistan was awarded the Nobel Peace prize Friday. She shares the award with veteran children’s rights campaigner Kailash Satyarthi, 60, from neighboring India.

Both Yousafzai and Satyarthi were lauded “for their struggle against the suppression of children and young people and for the right of all children to education,” according to the Nobel Committee’s statement. Though it may not have been intentional, the joint award evokes certain symmetry: Yousufzai, who has since moved to England to continue her education in a safer environment, is at the beginning of a life she has repeatedly said will be spent furthering her cause. Satyarthi is looking back on a career studded with achievements and dedicated to protecting children from exploitation. His work on developing international conventions for children’s rights is what enabled Yousufzai to launch her own campaign, first in her native Pakistan, and then around the world.

That the two come from rival countries and oft-clashing faiths only strengthens the message that the need for children’s education trumps both nation and creed. “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,” said the Peace Prize statement.

For Yousufzai, who continues to receive threats from the Pakistani Taliban who attempted to silence her demands to be educated two years ago, receiving the Nobel Peace Prize offers no better, and no louder, rebuttal.

See Malala's Life In Photos

Malala Yousafzai
Malala Yousafzai raises her hands with some of the escaped kidnapped school girls of government secondary school Chibok during a news conference in Abuja, Nigeria on July 14, 2014. Olamikan Gbemiga—AP
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Malala Yousafzai walks alongside Syrian refugee Mazoon Rakan after attending a press conference at the Zaatari refugee camp near the Jordanian border with Syria on Feb. 18, 2014. AFP/Getty Images
Pakistani teenage activist Malala Yousafzai, who was shot in the head by the Taliban for campaigning for girls' education, attends an award ceremony to receive her 2013 Sakharov Prize in Strasbourg
Malala Yousafzai attends an award ceremony to receive her 2013 Sakharov Prize at the European Parliament in Strasbourg, France on Nov. 20, 2013.Vincent Kessler—Reuters
Pakistani teenage activist Yousafzai poses for pictures before an event launching her memoir "I Am Malala" in London
Malala Yousafzai poses for pictures before an event launching her memoir "I Am Malala" at the Southbank Centre in London on Oct. 20, 2013. Olivia Harris—Reuters/Corbis
Queen Elizabeth II Receives Malala At Buckingham Palace
Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip meet Malala Yousafzai during a Reception for Youth, Education and the Commonwealth at Buckingham Palace in London on Oct. 18, 2013.Yui Mok—Getty Images
In this handout image provided by the White House, the Obama family meets with Malala Yousafzai in the Oval Office on Oct. 11, 2013 in Washington, DC.
The Obama family meets with Malala Yousafzai in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on Oct. 11, 2013.The White House/Getty Images
NETHERLANDS-PAKISTAN-UNREST-PEACE-PRIZE-MALALA
Malala Yousafzai raises a trophy after being honored with the International Children's Peace Prize in the Netherlands, on Sept. 6, 2013. AFP/Getty Images
malala nobel peace prize
Malala Yousafzai was on the cover of TIME Magazine's 100 Most Influential People list in 2013.TIME
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Pakistani student Malala Yousafzai speaks before the United Nations Youth Assembly in New york on July 12, 2013.Stan Honda—AFP/Getty Images
Family Of Malala Yousafzai Arrive In UK
Malala Yousafzai sits up in her hospital bed with her father and her two younger brothers, on Oct. 26, 2012, in Birmingham, United Kingdom. The 15 year-old Malala was being treated after she was shot by the Taliban in Pakistan two weeks earlier. Getty Images
Sharia Law in Pakistan's Swat Valley and North-West Frontier Province
Malala Yousafzai lives in the Swat Valley with her family seen here on March 26, 2009 in Peshawar, Pakistan. Veronique de Viguerie—Getty Images

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Write to Rishi Iyengar at rishi.iyengar@timeasia.com