Malala on first trip home since being shot
Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousufzai returned to her native Pakistan yesterday, six years after she was shot in the head by Taliban gunmen for advocating greater education of girls.
Yousufzai and her family met Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi in the capital, Islamabad, on her first visit to her homeland since she was airlifted for medical treatment in Britain in 2012.
Clad in a traditional salwar kameez outfit with her head covered with a red and blue scarf, Yousufzai also met several female Pakistani ministers in the prime minister’s office.
No visit to Swat
But she is unlikely to travel to her home region of Swat in northwestern Pakistan due to security threats against her, a relative and security sources said. “It’s been long-held desire of Malala Yousufzai and her parents to visit Swat and see her relatives and friends. But she was not given permission due to security concerns,” said one relative.
Earlier, Pakistan’s Geo TV showed footage of Yousufzai after she arrived at Islamabad airport, walking to a car escorted by security officials.
At the age of 17, Yousufzai became the youngest recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014 for her education advocacy. In October 2012, masked gunmen stopped a bus taking Malala and some friends home from school and shot her. Two of her friends were also wounded.
Last week, on Twitter, Yousufzai, who is now 20, expressed a longing for her homeland. She now lives in Britain and is studying at Oxford University.