MIRAMSHAH: The Pakistani Taliban said on Friday they were “delighted” Malala Yousufzai missed out on the Nobel Peace Prize.

Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) spokesman Shahidullah Shahid told AFP the 16-year-old had done nothing to deserve the Nobel, which went to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons for its work to rid the world of chemical arms.

“We are delighted that she didn’t get it. She did nothing big so it’s good that she didn’t get it,” he said by telephone from an undisclosed location.

“This award should be given to the real Muslims who are struggling for Islam. Malala is against Islam, she is secular.”

Malala won the European Parliament’s Sakharov rights prize on Thursday, which the TTP condemned in similar terms, claiming “her struggle against Islam” was the reason the West was honouring her.