ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — The Taliban has issued a new threat against Malala Yousafzai, the teenager who was shot in the head by one of its fighters a year ago after she refused to halt her efforts to expose the plight of schoolgirls in northwestern Pakistan.
In a telephone interview late Monday night, a top Taliban spokesman said the group will continue to look for opportunities to harm the 16-year-old girl so long as she remains an outspoken critic of efforts to impose strict Islamic law in Pakistan.
The threat comes amid speculation that Yousafzai, who sought refuge in England last year, is a leading contender to win the Nobel Peace Prize when it is announced Friday. She is already the youngest person ever nominated for the prestigious honor, and if she wins, she will be only the second Pakistani in history to be recognized by the Nobel prize committee.
Yousafzai’s family and friends say that winning the Nobel Peace Prize would represent a milestone for efforts to draw attention to the problems faced by women and children in Pakistan’s male-dominated culture.
After Yousafzai defied a Taliban campaign to shutter or bomb hundreds of schools in Pakistan’s remote Swat Valley, a gunman boarded her school bus on Oct. 9, 2012, and shot her and two of her classmates. Yousafzai survived after being airlifted to London for treatment and within months was one of the world’s most recognized humanitarians.
