Pakistani Girls’ Education Activist Malala Yousafzai Rose to Global Prominence After Taliban Shooting

Malala Yousafzai at United Nations headquarters on July 12, 2013. Associated Press

Pakistani schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai, the youngest person to win the Nobel Peace Prize, nearly paid with her life for speaking out against extremism.

Writing under a pseudonym, Ms. Yousafzai had documented life

in Swat valley under the harsh rule of the Pakistani Taliban, which took over in 2007. During the nearly three years that they ruled Swat, the Taliban forced closures of private schools as part of an edict banning girls’ education.

On Oct. 9, 2012, on her way home after school, two gunmen stopped Ms. Yousafzai’s school van. One of the gunmen demanded that the students identify the young campaigner for women’s rights and education, then only 15.

“No one said anything, but several of the girls looked at me,” Ms. Yousafzai recalled in her memoir, “I Am Malala.” “I was the only girl with my face not covered.”

The gunman then fired three shots. One bullet struck Ms. Yousafzai in the head. Two other girls in the vehicle were also injured, less seriously.

The Taliban claimed responsibility for the shooting, saying her writings were an attempt to malign their bid to establish Islamic rule in Swat.

After the shooting, Ms. Yousafzai was flown to the U.K. for treatment at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham. The assassination caused widespread public revulsion against the Taliban in Pakistan, and raised Ms. Yousafzai to global prominence.

Following her recovery, Ms. Yousafzai made her first public appearance on July 12, 2013, her 16th birthday, when she delivered an address at the United Nations General Assembly in New York. The U.N. declared it “Malala Day.”

Ms. Yousafzai has gone on to receive world-wide acclaim for her efforts to promote women’s rights and education, including the European Parliament’s Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought, and Amnesty International’s Ambassador of Conscience Award.

Named after Malalai of Maiwand, an Afghan national heroine who rallied Pashtun tribesmen to fight against the British in 1880, Ms. Yousafzai now lives and studies in the U.K.

Speaking in Birmingham, she said she felt honored to be chosen as a Nobel Laureate, along with Indian children’s rights activist Kailash Satyarthi. Her teacher had taken her aside to tell her the news, she said.

“I’m proud that I’m the first Pakistani and the first young woman, or the first young person, who is getting this award,” she said. “This is not the end, this is not the end of my campaign, this is the beginning.”

Ehsanullah Ehsan, who was spokesman of the Pakistani Taliban when Malala was attacked, said the award was part of a “war of ideologies” between the secular world and Islam.

“Giving Malala the Nobel Prize proves that in this war of ideologies, the infidels have rewarded their darling for good service,” he said. “No Muslim feels pride taking a prize from anti-Muslim infidels, and no Muslim can expect a prize from the infidels.”

Despite Ms. Yousafzai’s fame, the Taliban’s paranoid worldview has become part of the national conversation in Pakistan. In the Pakistani media, Ms. Yousafzai has been portrayed as a part of a Western conspiracy to defame Islam—or even as a CIA agent.

Ms. Yousafzai’s Nobel Peace Prize, however, positions her as the a prominent global ambassador for Pakistan.

In a statement, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif called Ms. Yousafzai the “pride of Pakistan,” saying: “Girls and boys of the world should take [the] lead from her struggle and commitment.”

Interior Minister Chaudhry Nisar Ali Khan also congratulated Ms. Yousafzai.

“Pakistan got respect all over the world because of this girl,” he said.

Christina Lamb, who co-wrote “I Am Malala,” said Ms. Yousafzai risked her life to make a difference and should be rewarded.

She said that she was concerned that if Ms. Yousafzai had won the Nobel last year, while she was still adjusting into life in the U.K., it would have been too much of a burden for a young girl.

“In a way, having it a year on, when they’ve had time to settle her in and make a new life in Britain, I think it will be a lot easier for her to deal with.”

Ms. Yousafzai has set up a charity, the Malala Fund, to promote girls’ education.

“I hope my story will inspire girls to raise their voice and embrace the power within themselves,” she wrote in an afterword to her memoir.

—Qasim Nauman and Safdar Dawar contributed to this article.

Write to Nathan Hodge at nathan.hodge@wsj.com and Jenny Gross at