Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani activist who was shot by the Taliban on her way to school less than a year ago, celebrated her 16th birthday by delivering a powerful speech to the UN youth assembly at the United Nations headquarters in New York. Malala has already become a symbol for child education and women empowerment around the world, but some in her country Pakistan continue to spin conspiracy theories to malign her. At the special UN session on July 12, 2013, on what the UN has declared “Malala Day“, she called upon world leaders to provide free and compulsory education to the children around the world. She also said that something must be done for the 57 million children today who go without access to education. http://youtu.be/B5X70VyjU0g Malala's speech was widely quoted all over the world, including within Pakistan. She and her family were cordially congratulated on social media, with many Pakistanis expressing their pride of her standing at the UN sitting next to world leaders. Bushra Gohar (@BushraGohar), senior vice president of the Awami National Party and former member of the national assembly from the Khyber-Pakhtoonkhwa province where Malala is from, tweeted: @BushraGohar: “Let us pick up our books and our pens. They are our most powerful weapons. One teacher, one book, one pen, can change the world,” #Malala Dentist, Senior Ted fellow and blogger Dr. Awab Alvi (@DrAwab) wrote: @DrAwab: #MalalaDay Pakistan needs heros to be applauded, and I applaud her for her standing up for Women, Children, Education & Peace in Pakistan Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani schoolgirl who survived an assassination attempt by the Taliban, called for world leaders to protect rights to equality and education in an address to youth at the United Nations on Friday, her 16th birthday. Image by Nancy Siesel. Copyright Demotix (12/7/2013) Salman Lateef (@SalmanLateef), author and blogger at the Express Tribune, described Malala's qualities: @SalmanLateef: Calm aplomb, unfazed confidence, clear speech, wise words – #Malala is indeed the pride of this nation. #MalalaDay Raza Rumi (@RazaRumi), a journalist and director of Pakistani think-tank Jinnah Institute, tweeted: @RazaRumi: I was in tears hearing Malala's speech. How many macho ghairatmand (masculine honor) Pakistanis display such courage in the face of extremists. Proud of her! Many on Twitter questioned why Malala's speech was not given much importance by the national media. Beena Sarwar (@beenasarwar), a journalist, artist and documentary filmmaker, observed: @BeenaSarwar: So how come no TV channel in Pakistan (except PTV World) gave live coverage to #Malala‘s speech in the UN yesterday? Ammar Aziz (@Ammar_Aziz), a left-wing documentary filmmaker and founder and director of SAMAAJ, lamented: @ammaraziz: It's a pity that our ‘free media’ didn't bother to braodcast #Malala‘s speech live – they only showed that in parts later. #Pakistan Also to mark Malala's 16th birthday, her father joined a Grammy Award-winning producer to release the song “I am Malala” to support the education and empowerment of girls in Pakistan and around the world. Not everyone on social media responded positively to the celebrations of Malala, however. The Chief Minister of Punjab, Shehbaz Sharif (@CMShehbaz), tweeted one day after Malala delivered her speech: @CMShehbaz Good speech by Malala! Could have been better – seemed to be written for global consumption ( & tried to please everyone at home & abroad) His comment was roundly criticized, and in the next few hours it was deleted. Even worse on social media was a concerted anti-Malala campaign that was launched. Since the attack on her last year, Malala has been called a drama and a fraud by many Pakistanis. Hailing from right-wing ideologues, these people hold her as a CIA agent who is now a tool in the hands of the West. Her pictures with US envoy Richhard Holbrooke were circulated by right-wing conservative political party Jamat-e-Islami on social networking websites, and party leader Samia Raheel Qazi tweeted the pictures and called Malala and her father CIA agents. A Facebook page Josh e Junoon (Tsunami of Imran Khan) with 127,000 likes shared a poster maligning Malala and rejecting that she was attacked by Taliban: Facebook hate campaign against Malala ” The eighth wonder of the world: Malala. This is the first neurosurgery in which they didn't shave her head. These are first Talibans who fired with Klashinkov but the bruise was of air gun. First patient of neurosurgery that asked for pen and paper after coming to senses. “Where am I” First gunshot of the world that didn't leave a hole but the bullet got to our media's mind.