Malala Yousafzai, world's youngest Nobel laureate, returns to home in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD — Malala Yousafzai, the world’s youngest Nobel laureate, returned to Pakistan on Thursday some five years after Taliban militants shot her in the head for fighting for the right for girls to go to school.

Yousafzai survived the attack, was flown to Britain in 2012 for medical care and then impressed the world with her eloquent defense of women’s rights. She went on to receive the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014, together with Indian child rights activist Kailash Satyarthi, before being accepted to Oxford University. But in all those years, she said, she never forgot her home.

“I have been dreaming of returning to Pakistan for the last five years and today I am very happy but I can still not believe that this is actually happening,” she said tearfully at a reception hosted by Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi. “Today after five and half years I have set foot on my soil. Whenever I would travel, in plane or in car, I would imagine that it’s Pakistan and I am driving in Islamabad, I would imagine this is Karachi, and it was never true, but now that I see it, I am very happy.”

The reception included senior government functionaries, leading social activists, parliamentarians and guests from her home region of Swat who came to welcome what they dubbed “daughter of Pakistan.”

[‘Malala hate’ is still real in Pakistan]

“The entire world gave you honor and respect and Pakistan will also give you honor. It is your home ... you are not an ordinary citizen, your security is our responsibility,” the prime minister said at the meeting. He also referred to the militants that wounded Yousafzai and the battle Pakistan is still fighting.

“We are fighting a war against terror. No matter what the world says about us, Pakistan is fighting the largest war against terror and our more than 2,00,000 soldiers are fighting this war,” he said.

Video showed the Nobel laureate clad in traditional Pakistani shalwar kameez and her head covered in red and blue scarf sitting next to the premier along with her parents. She also met with female ministers.

The 20-year old university student and education activist arrived in the early hours of the morning amid tight security at Islamabad’s Benazir Bhutto International Airport. Pakistani news channels aired footage of her leaving the airport along with her parents in a convoy of over a dozen vehicles, many carrying police and security personnel.

It is not yet clear whether she will visit the Swat Valley or not. Her four day itinerary has her staying mostly in Islamabad and meeting Pakistani officials, media representatives and social activists as well as relatives.

“It’s the most happiest day of my life that I am back to my country and meeting my people, all my countrymen sitting here I want to welcome you,” she said in Pashto, the native language of her region. “I continued my education in the U.K. but I always wanted to move freely in Pakistan. I want to invest in the education of children. Pakistani women should be empowered.”

Even in her early teens, Yousafzai was known as a champion of girls’ education, something that cannot be taken for granted in parts of Pakistan and elsewhere in the region.

When the Taliban took control of Swat Valley, she refused to remain silent until one day, Taliban militants boarded her school bus, asked for “Malala” and then shot her.

They also blew up many girls’ schools and imposed their strict version of Islamic law until they were finally driven out.

Even after her recovery, Yousafzai continued to agitate for girls’ education, setting up the “Malala Fund” aimed at supporting education advocacy groups in countries like Pakistan, Nigeria and Kenya.

Just this month, she used her Nobel Prize money to build a new school in Shangla, close to her home district.

“I am 20-years-old but have seen many things in life, from growing up in Swat Valley, it was such a lovely place, and seeing extremism and terrorism there from 2007 to 2009, seeing how many difficulties our women and girls faced against those challenges,” she said fighting back tears. “If it was up to me I would never have left my country, but for treatment I had to go out and continue my education there.”

Ahmad Shah, a close family friend of Yousafzai and an education activist was ecstatic about her return, when reached by phone in Swat.

“All well wishers and friends from Swat are happy. She is our pride. She is a source of inspiration for girls in Swat,” he said, noting the new school in Shangla. “One positive aspect of Malala’s image is that now mostly people are welcoming her. Very few, almost none are writing and speaking against her.”

Some in Pakistan, especially religious conservatives, have been critical of her, seeing her as a polarizing figure portraying her country in a negative way in order to seek fame abroad.

She was greeted warmly on Twitter and other social media platforms by many of her countrymen, however, including actress Mahira Khan who tweeted, “Welcome home baby girl.”

Former TV anchor and social activist Reham Khan said, “Lots of love and prayers to dearest Malala on her return to Pakistan.”

Read more:

Malala has a message for Trump on women’s rights

Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai to study at Oxford

Q&A with Malala Yousafzai, Nobel Peace Prize winner and education advocate

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