Malala Says She Hopes to Become Pakistan’s Prime Minister

She’s still a teenager but Malala Yousafzai has already survived a brutal attack by the Taliban, served as a global champion of girls’ education and become the youngest Nobel Laureate in history. Yet the young Pakistani activist, who is in Oslo, Norway, to accept the Nobel Peace Prize, told the BBC that she still hopes to achieve much more and even become Prime Minister of Pakistan one day.

“I want to serve my country and this is my dream that my country becomes a developed country and I see every child get an education,” the 17-year-old activist said in an interview with the BBC on Wednesday. She said she was inspired by Pakistan’s first female prime minister — Benazir Bhutto, who served two terms before she was assassinated in 2007. “If I can serve my country best through politics and through becoming a prime minister then I would definitely choose that.”

MORE: Meet the guests of Malala joining her as she receives the Nobel Peace Prize

Malala became an international household name in October 2012 when she was shot in the head by a Taliban assassin while riding in a school bus. She was attacked for her advocacy of girls’ education before the shooting and since recovering from the attack has gone on to champion girls’ education and girls’ rights around the globe.

[BBC]