Malala visits Pakistani home town where she was shot

Islamabad : Nobel peace laureate and young education activist Malala Yousafzai visited her home in Swat Valley, more than five years after she was shot in the head there by the Taliban.

Malala Yousafzai, 20, along with her parents, State Information Minister Marriyum Aurangzeb and others landed near her family home in Mingora in the morning amid tight security, the Pakistani media reported.

In October 2012, Malala Yousafzai — then 15 years old — was attacked when she was returning from her school. She was later flown to London for medical treatment.

The activist, who is on four-day visit to Pakistan, met her friends and family before visiting the Swat Cadet College Guli Bagh, some 15 km outside of Mingora.

Yousafzai arrived in Pakistan early Thursday. She later delivered an emotional speech at the Prime Minister’s Office in Islamabad saying it had been her dream to return “without any fear”.

“Always it has been my dream that I should go to Pakistan and there, in peace and without any fear, I can move on streets, I can meet people, I can talk to people.

“And I think that it’s my old home again… so it is actually happening, and I am grateful to all of you,” an emotional Yousafzai said on her return.

Due to security reasons, her entire itinerary had been kept tightly under wraps.

Meanwhile, in a televised interview with Geo TV aired on Friday, the activist said she plans to return to Pakistan permanently once her studies are completed.

“It is my plan to return to Pakistan after completing my education because it is my country and I have equal rights on it like any other Pakistani.”

The Oxford University student, who had said that she wanted to run for Prime Minister, said there was “definitely a difference between the Pakistan of today and in 2012”.

“Things are becoming better, people are uniting and a campaign for better Pakistan is ongoing, people are active which is very good.”

Yousafzai plans to return to Britain on Monday.

IANS