On Sunday, Nobel Peace laureate Malala Yousafzai urged Muslim leaders not to "legitimize" Afghanistan's Taliban rulers.

Yousafzai made the comments at a summit on girls' education in Muslim countries in Islamabad, Pakistan, organized by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) and the Muslim World League.

Yousafzai: Reject Taliban 'gender apartheid'

Yousafzai said the Taliban had implemented more than 100 laws that violate women's rights, which she denounced as "gender apartheid."

"There's nothing Islamic about this," Yousafzai said.

"In Afghanistan an entire generation of girls will be robbed of its future," she said.

"As Muslim leaders," she said, "now is the time to raise your voice, use your power."

Since taking power in August 2021, the Taliban have imposed restrictions that effectively banish women from public life .

Yousafzai, who hails from the city of Mingora in the Swat valley in Pakistan's Pashtun-dominated northwest, survived a gunshot wound to the head from a Pakistan Taliban militant in 2012 while on a school bus. She was transferred to the United Kingdom for medical treatment and then pursued education in the country.

On Saturday, Yousafzai expressed her happiness to be visiting her home country, saying: "Pakistan is where I began my journey and where my heart will always be."

She said more than 12 million Pakistani girls were out of school.

In December, the Taliban struck targets inside Pakistan after Pakistani airstrikes reportedly killed dozens.

Islamabad has demanded that the group rein in the Tehrik-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) militant group responsible for multiple attacks in Pakistan.

Yousafzai condemns Israeli offensive in Gaza

Yousafzai also criticized Israel's offensive in the Gaza Strip, pointing to the humanitarian catastrophe in the Palestinian territory.

"In Gaza, Israel has decimated the entire education system," she said.

"They have bombed all universities, destroyed more than 90% of schools, and indiscriminately attacked civilians sheltering in school buildings," she said.

In September 2024, the UN's children's agency, UNICEF, said 45,000 first-graders in Gaza were unable to start their education and 625,000 youths were being deprived of schooling for a second year.

Israel has repeatedly said Hamas and other militant groups were using civilian facilities such as schools and hospitals in Gaza for military purposes.

Yousafzai became the youngest Nobel laureate at age 17 for her campaigning for the right of children to receive an education.

sdi/lo (AFP, dpa, Reuters)