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Shot Pakistan girl Malala Yousafzai thanks well-wishers Malala Yousafzai: Thousands sign Nobel Peace Prize petition
(about 11 hours later)
A 15-year-old education campaigner shot in the head by a Taliban gunman in Pakistan has thanked people around the world for supporting her. Tens of thousands of people around the world have signed an online petition calling for the Pakistani schoolgirl shot in the head by the Taliban to be nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.
Malala Yousafzai was flown to Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham, after being shot on a school bus in October. The UK government has also been urged to back the campaign, with advocates saying Malala Yousafzai represents those denied an education.
Her father Zianuddin Yousafzai said she wanted to thank well-wishers for helping her "survive and stay strong". Malala's father said she was "humbled" by the support from around the world.
Meanwhile, more than 60,000 people have signed a petition calling for Malala to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. Doctors in the UK, where she is being treated, say she is making progress.
Doctors in Birmingham, where Malala has been receiving specialist treatment, have said she stands every chance of making a good recovery. Malala, 15, is widely known as a campaigner for girls' education in Pakistan.
She had campaigned for the rights of girls to have an education and had written a diary for the BBC Urdu service when the Pakistan Taliban controlled her home area of Swat. In early 2009 she wrote an anonymous diary for BBC Urdu about life under the Taliban, who had banned all girls in her area from attending school.
'Grateful and amazed' Meanwhile Saturday has been declared href="http://educationenvoy.org/" >a global day of action in Malala's name aimed at getting school places for 32 millions girls around the world who are not attending classes.
Since the attack, the teenager has received thousands of goodwill messages from around the world. The UN Special Envoy for Education Gordon Brown is in Islamabad ahead of the day to discuss ways of getting Pakistani girls currently out of school into the education system.
Mr Yousafzai said in a statement issued by the hospital trust: "She wants me to tell everyone how grateful she is and is amazed that men, women and children from across the world are interested in her well-being. 'Recovering well'
"We deeply feel the heart-touching good wishes of the people across the world of all caste, colour and creed." Malala's father, Ziauddin - who is visiting his daughter in the UK - said she wanted to convey how grateful and amazed she was that people around the world were interested in her well-being.
In the UK, Shahida Choudhary has begun a campaign calling for Malala to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. "Malala is recovering well, and she wants me to tell you she has been inspired, and humbled by the thousands of messages, cards and gifts. They have helped her survive and stay strong," he said.
She said: "Malala doesn't just represent one young woman, she speaks out for all those who are denied an education purely on the basis of their gender. There are girls like Malala in the UK and across the world. I was one of them. He has also said that she was a worthy candidate for the peace award.
"I started this petition because a Nobel Peace Prize for Malala will send a clear message that the world is watching and will support those who stand up for the right of girls to get an education." "Malala stands for the human dignity, tolerance and pluralism. She has drawn with her sacred blood a clear line between barbarity and human civilisation. Her voice is the voice of the people of Pakistan and all downtrodden and deprived children of the world."
Events are expected to take place around the world on Saturday to mark one month since Malala was shot. In the UK, campaigner Shahida Choudhary said she set up the petition "because a Nobel Peace Prize for Malala will send a clear message that the world is watching".
A nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize may only be submitted by any person who meets the nomination criteria and the deadline is usually in February. The Nobel committee then prepares a shortlist which is not made public and laureates are chosen in October.
A few weeks before she was shot, the teenager told friends she wanted to campaign on their behalf, reports the BBC's Orla Guerin in Islamabad.
She and two other schoolgirls were attacked as they returned home from school in Mingora in the Swat Valley in north-west Pakistan on 9 October.
The gunman who boarded the van in which she was travelling asked for her by name before firing three shots at her.
After initial surgery in Pakistan she was flown to a specialist trauma unit at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham, in the UK, where doctors say she is making good progress.