Timesofindia.com, New Delhi :
Shot in the head by the Taliban for daring to go to school, Pakistan’s Malala Yousafzai yesterday graduated high school, joined Twitter, and was immediately congratulated by a host of global luminaries including Bill Gates and Justin Trudeau.
Within minutes of her saying “Hi Twitter” on Friday, dozens of people and high-profile organisations welcomed the plucky young woman – who’s also a Nobel Peace laureate – to the microblogging platform. And in fewer than 24 hours she gained close to 370,000 followers (and counting). “Today is my last day of school and my first day on @Twitter,” she wrote. Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who met Malala a few months ago, congratulated her for finishing high school.
Microsoft founder Bill Gates called her an “inspiration”. Malala, who will be 20 this month according to AFP, was shot by Taliban terrorists in 2012. She was well known much before that, though, as a girls’ education activist, which is why the Islamic fundamentalists targeted her. The BBC says Malala was 11 years old when she began writing a diary for its Urdu service. “Her blogs described life under Taliban rule from her home town of Mingora, in the northwest region of Pakistan she affectionately calls ‘My Swat’ “, the BBC says.
Education for young girls is still uppermost in Malala’s mind, which is probably why she said on Twitter that finishing high school is a “bittersweet” experience for her.
Malala wrote further – she posted seven tweets in total – that her “fight” for girls worldwide will continue. She will soon embark on what she calls a “girl power trip”. US senator Kamala Harris said Malala, with her fight on behalf of young girls around the world, is “the change we want to see in the world”.
Shot in the head by the Taliban for daring to go to school, Pakistan’s Malala Yousafzai yesterday graduated high school, joined Twitter, and was immediately congratulated by a host of global luminaries including Bill Gates and Justin Trudeau.
Within minutes of her saying “Hi Twitter” on Friday, dozens of people and high-profile organisations welcomed the plucky young woman – who’s also a Nobel Peace laureate – to the microblogging platform. And in fewer than 24 hours she gained close to 370,000 followers (and counting). “Today is my last day of school and my first day on @Twitter,” she wrote. Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who met Malala a few months ago, congratulated her for finishing high school.
Microsoft founder Bill Gates called her an “inspiration”. Malala, who will be 20 this month according to AFP, was shot by Taliban terrorists in 2012. She was well known much before that, though, as a girls’ education activist, which is why the Islamic fundamentalists targeted her. The BBC says Malala was 11 years old when she began writing a diary for its Urdu service. “Her blogs described life under Taliban rule from her home town of Mingora, in the northwest region of Pakistan she affectionately calls ‘My Swat’ “, the BBC says.
Education for young girls is still uppermost in Malala’s mind, which is probably why she said on Twitter that finishing high school is a “bittersweet” experience for her.
Malala wrote further – she posted seven tweets in total – that her “fight” for girls worldwide will continue. She will soon embark on what she calls a “girl power trip”. US senator Kamala Harris said Malala, with her fight on behalf of young girls around the world, is “the change we want to see in the world”.
