LONDON: Pakistan’s teenage Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai has said she nominated the country’s celebrated humanitarian and philanthropist Abdul Sattar Edhi for the Nobel Peace Prize, BBC Urdu reported on Saturday.

“As a Nobel Peace Prize winner, I hold the right to nominate people for the prize and I have nominated Abdul Sattar Edhi,” said Malala. She added that no one deserved the Nobel prize more than Edhi.

Edhi, who breathed his last on Friday in Karachi, was Pakistan’s greatest humanitarian.

Malala, who received the peace prize in 2014, maintained that one must remember that even the coveted Nobel prize cannot be a befitting tribute to Edhi’s services for humanity.

“If we wish to pay tribute to Edhi, it is our responsibility to leave a legacy of service to humanity and if we want to pay tribute to him, it is our responsibility to follow in his footsteps,” said Malala.

She added that she could never meet the great philanthropist but feels proud and honoured that she had the opportunity to talk to Edhi over the phone a number of times.

Published in Dawn, July 10th, 2016