Mother Teresa award for Afghan activist and Pakistani girl shot by Taliban

Afghan rights activist Dr Sima Samar along with Pakistani education campaigner Malala Yousufzai was Wednesday conferred with the Mother Teresa Memorial International Award for Social Justice 2012.

NGO Harmony Foundation honoured the activists with the award at a function at the Grand Hyatt in Mumbai.

Dr Sima Samar is the chairperson of the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission and the former United Nations Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Sudan.

She has received various international awards for her work on human rights and democracy. Dr Samar has opened four hospitals, 10 health clinics and numerous schools for Afghan girls and women.

Malala Yousufzai is a Pakistani blogger who survived the Taliban's assassination attempt in October.

The 15-year-old came to prominence in 2009 at the age of 11, when she started writing a diary for BBC Urdu about life under the Taliban.

Both Malala and her father Ziauddin Yousafzai were reportedly unable to travel to receive the award.

"Malala and I are extremely happy and humbly accept the award. This means a lot to us, especially during our time of crisis," Ziauddin stated in his acceptance letter read by convener Abraham Mathai.

"Honouring Malala with this award sends out a strong message of support to those whose daughters have to fight and speak out for their basic right to education," he wrote.

Union minister Shashi Tharoor and Prof P J Kurien, deputy chairperson of the Rajya Sabha, were the chief guests at Wednesday's event.

Other recipients of the awards included well-known writer Kuldeep Nayyar, women's rights lawyer Flavia Agnes, Gujarat IPS officer Sanjiv Bhatt, the Shillong Chamber Choir, the Pandita Ramabai Mukti Mission and NDTV's Support My School cause.