French President Francois Hollande Tuesday hailed Malala Yousafzai, who was shot by the Taliban for championing girls' education, as a global emblem of the thirst for knowledge. Hollande, who met President Asif Ali Zardari, said the 15-year-old was the "symbol of a young girl who fought for access to knowledge and education", adding: "We all share Malala's spirit."

Malala is recovering in a British hospital after being brutally attacked on her school bus on October 9. Zardari, whose government on Monday donated $10 million for a global war chest aimed at educating all girls by 2015, told Hollande that "every child, every Malala, has a right to education." "The first word of the holy Quran is 'iqra' which is read," he said, attacking the "fringe minority of darkness, of hatred, of conflict. "What extremists fear is a girl with a book in her hand," he said.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2012