The Taliban has issued a new threat against 16-year-old Malala Yousafzai, the girl who had been shot in the head by one of its fighters a years ago after refusing to halt her effort to expose the plight of schoolgirls in Pakistan, The Washington Post reported.
Despite the threat, there is a growing speculation that Yousafzai, who sought refuge in England last year, is a leading contender to win this year's Nobel Peace Prize for Peace, which will be announced on Friday. (She already is the youngest person ever to be nominated).
A top Taliban spokesman said the group will continue looking for opportunities to harm Yousafzai if she continues her efforts to criticize strict Islamic law in Pakistan.
Nonetheless, with the launch of her book, "I am Malala," on Monday evening, she sat down with ABC's Diane Sawyer where she believes it is imperative to speak out for what's right.
"I was feeling fear all the time. At night, I was thinking, shall I put a knife under my pillow? I think life is always dangerous. Some people are afraid of it, and don't go forward, but some people, if they have to achieve their goal, they have to go," she explained to Sawyer.
Yousafzai's family and friends said that winning the award would help draw attention to the immense pressure and difficulties facing women living in Pakistan.
The young girl was shot by gunman as she boarded her school bus on October 9, 2012 supposedly for her desire that Pakistani girls deserve equal education as male students.
Since her recovery, Yousafzai has spoken to the United Nations, and has founded a New York-based charity named after her. She has also been honored by many humanitarian organizations for her courage and activism.
"We feel proud. She has been a voice for peace, love and education," Shadid Khan, her cousin said.
Some Pakistanis, including Ibrahim Khan, a senator and leader of the Islamic Jamaat -e- Islami party told The Washington Post that " she is not being used -rather, misused- in the West by portraying a wrong image of Pakistan as a violent and anti-women society. If Malala is given awards or rewards for using her name to defame Pakistan and Islam, then I will have to condemn it."
Yousafzai won the Anna Politkovskaya Award last week. That award, named after the intrepid Russian journalist, is presented to a woman human rights defender from a conflict who stands up for victims at their own personal risk.
