Prayers in secret for Malala's Nobel prize

In Malala Yousafzai's home town in Pakistan, school friends hope to see her win the Nobel Peace Prize this Friday - but they dream in secret, under pressure from a society deeply ambivalent about the teenage activist.

Malala, who survived being shot by the Taliban on October 9 last year, has become a global ambassador for education, feted by celebrities and politicians around the Western world.

But in northwest Pakistan's Swat valley, a deeply conservative area fearful of foreign influence encroaching on the traditions of its society, many regard her with suspicion and even contempt.

Her long-time friend Safia said she deserved to win the Nobel prize. She supports Malala's efforts to get all children - girls as well as boys - to go to school.

"A bicycle cannot run with only one wheel: society is like a bicycle, with the male education as the first wheel and female education as the second one," she said.

Beautiful verdant Swat Valley was once a honeypot for tourists, but it was plunged into war in 2007 when the Pakistani Taliban took control and enforced a hardline Islamist rule until they were kicked out by the army two years later.

But pockets of militancy remain and a year ago a Taliban hit squad shot Malala in the head at point-blank range on her school bus.