Malala Yousafzai married Asser Malik in a ceremony on Tuesday, November 9. Malala, who was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize at the age of 17 in 2014, revealed on social media that she had tied the knot. “Today marks a precious day in my life. Asser and I tied the knot to be partners for life. We celebrated a small nikkah ceremony at home in Birmingham with our families. Please send us your prayers. We are excited to walk together for the journey ahead,”  she captioned the Instagram photos. Asser captioned the same photo with a simple heart emoji.

Malik is the Pakistan Cricket Board’s general manager of high performance (PCB). According to his LinkedIn profile, he joined the company in May 2020. 

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Malik previously worked as an operational manager for the Multan Sultans of the Pakistan Super League (PSL), as well as running a player management agency. 

In 2012, he graduated from Lahore University of Management Sciences with a bachelor’s degree in economics and political science (LUMS). His LinkedIn profile further mentions that he was a student there from 2008 to 2012. Furthermore, he was the president of Dramaline, an organization which did theater productions. 

Prior to joining Pakistan’s Cricket Board, Asser played a key role in reviving Pakistani interest in the bat-and-ball sport through an amateur league. According to ESPN cricinfo, he was a “managing director of a player-management agency and franchise owner in the amateur league Last Man Stand,”  On LinkedIn, he stated that one of his goals was “Reviv[ing] grassroots cricket in Pakistan”  as well as to provide amateur players with “proper hard ball cricket experience.” 

Only a few months ago, Malala Yousafzai was asked about her opinions on marriage in an interview with Vogue. “I still don’t understand why people have to get married,” she told British Vogue. “If you want to have a person in your life, why do you have to sign marriage papers, why can’t it just be a partnership?’

“My mum is like… ‘Don’t you dare say anything like that! You have to get married, marriage is beautiful.’”