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Malala makes first trip to Pakistan since Taliban attack

AFP, March 29, 2018 – Nobel peace laureate Malala Yousafzai returned to Pakistan Thursday, saying tearfully that it was “a dream” to come home for the first time since she was airlifted to Britain after being shot in the head by a Taliban gunman more than five years ago.
The 20-year-old was overcome with emotion as she made a televised speech from the Prime Minister’s House in Islamabad, wiping away tears as she spoke of the beauty of her native Swat valley.
“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.”
She had arrived unannounced with her parents under tight security overnight. Pakistanis awakening to the news she was back in the country flooded social media with messages of welcome, with many hailing her bravery — but others accusing her of a conspiracy to foment dissent.
Malala is widely respected internationally as a global icon for girls’ education, but opinion is divided in Pakistan, where some conservatives view her as a Western agent on a mission to shame her country.

 

 Malala Yousafzai 

     Malala Yousafzai

 

Residents of Swat said they were happy to see her return.
“I had not imagined that she would ever come (back),” Rida Siyal, a student who said she had been a “good friend” of Malala’s before the shooting, told AFP.
“(She) defeated the dark force of fear. We are delighted to see her back,” she said.
Ahmad Shah, who said he was a friend of Malala’s father, called her a “symbol of courage”, adding: “She should have returned home much earlier”.
Malala became a global symbol for human rights after a gunman boarded her school bus in Swat on October 9, 2012, asked “Who is Malala?” and shot her.
She was treated for her injuries in the British city of Birmingham, where she also completed her schooling.
The youngest ever winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014, she has continued to be a vocal advocate for girls’ education while pursuing her studies at Oxford University

 

A Pakistani girl carries a photograph of Malala Yousafzai at a rally in Karachi on October 10, 2012, a day after she was shot by the Taliban  

 A Pakistani girl carries a photograph of Malala Yousafzai at a rally in Karachi on October 10, 2012, a day after she was shot by the Taliban  

A Pakistani girl carries a photograph of Malala Yousafzai at a rally in Karachi on October 10, 2012, a day after she was shot by the Taliban

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