Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif today told Malala Yousafzai, Pakistan's Nobel Peace Prize laureate who survived a Taliban attack, that his government has a "strong resolve to eliminate terrorism" to fulfill her dream of better education for all.


Sharif met the 17-year-old child rights activist at Oslo where he is on a three-day visit and assured her that his government is determined to improve quality of education and ensure gender equality.


"Significant steps have been taken for the promotion of rights of women, children and minorities," he said, adding that the government is committed to increase education spending up to four per cent of GDP. Sharif appreciated Malala's personal interest for the cause of promotion of education, that had invited the wrath of the Taliban.


In 2012, she was targeted by Taliban gunmen while returning home from school in the town of Mingora by bus which the gunmen boarded and asked for her by name before shooting her in the head. Sharif said the government has made a "strong resolve to eliminate terrorism which will help attain our dream of providing better education to all". "The sacrifices of those who suffered at the hands of terrorists would not go in vain," Radio Pakistan reported, quoting Sharif.


Pic: Pak PM Nawaz Sharif, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, Norway's Prime Minister Erna Solberg  with Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai and her father in Oslo. REUTERS/Vegard Wivestad Grott