Extremely happy to return Pakistan after five years: Malala Yousafzai
Malala was accompanied by her father Ziauddin Yousafzai.
ISLAMABAD (Dunya News) - Nobel peace laureate Malala Yousafzai on Thursday said that she is extremely happy to return Pakistan after more than five years.
“I cannot believe that this is the reality. I have only seen one dream in the last five years, to step foot in my homeland. It would take me some time to accept the fact that I am in Pakistan,” she said while addressing a ceremony in PM House.
“I am only 20-years-old but have seen much in my life. It was very difficult for me to leave the country after the attack. I would have never left Pakistan if it was in my control,” said Malala while breaking into tears.
“I have always wanted to go Pakistan peacefully. The country’s future is the youth and we have to work for their education,” she asserted.
“I am working for the education of children on international level and wanted to do the same in Pakistan,” Malala maintained.
The Prime Minister also addressed the ceremony and paid rich tribute to Nobel laureate. He expressed happiness over Malala’s return to her homeland.
"Terrorism has been eliminated from Pakistan. Thousands of soldiers have sacrificed in the difficult war," said PM.
"Welcome home, Malala," he concluded.
Earlier, she met Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi at his office in Islamabad along with some other officials.
Nobel Laureate Malala Yousafzai calls on Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi at Prime Minister’s Office.
— PML(N) (@pmln_org) March 29, 2018
MoS Ms. Maryam Aurangzeb, Ms. Anusha Rehman, Ms. Marvi Memon also present in the meeting. pic.twitter.com/7XggOFVzfZ
.jpg)
State Minister for Information Marriyum Aurangzeb, Minister of State for Information Technology Anusha Rehman, PML-N MNA Marvi Memon and others were also present in the meeting.
Malala was accompanied by her father Ziauddin Yousafzai.
Return to Pakistan
Malala Yousafzai returned to Pakistan today, officials said, in her first visit since she was shot in the head by a Taliban gunman six years ago for advocating education for girls.
The 20-year-old’s unannounced arrival with her parents under tight security at Islamabad’s international airport overnight has been met with a tsunami of social media reaction, with many Pakistanis hailing her bravery.
Malala is widely respected internationally for her activism.
"She will be meeting several people here but her itinerary is not being disclosed due to security reasons," foreign office spokesman Muhammad Faisal told AFP.
"We welcome Malala.... She is back home. It is a positive development," he said, calling her "one of our young and brilliant daughters" and adding that Pakistanis should respect her.
Residents of Malala’s native Swat valley, where she lived until the shooting, 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.
"I welcome #MalalaYousafzai the brave and resilient daughter of Pakistan back to her country," politician Syed Ali Raza Abidi wrote on Twitter, one of many Pakistanis expressing joy at her return.
‘Change the world’
One leading Pakistani journalist, Hamid Mir, issued a plea for opposition politicians and commentators to exercise restraint when talking about the visit.
"International media is highly focused on her return and this (bad language) will damage Pakistan’s image," he said. Other Pakistanis echoed his concerns on social media.
"Dear Pakistanis! Malala is not your enemy. Your enemies were those monsters who shot her point blank on her way to school," wrote Twitter user Shahira Lashari.
Malala began her campaign aged just 11, when she started writing a blog -- under a pseudonym -- for the BBC’s Urdu service in 2009 about life under the Taliban in Swat, where they were banning girls’ education.
In 2007, the militants had taken over the area, which Malala affectionately called "My Swat", and imposed a brutal, bloody rule.
Opponents were murdered, people were publicly flogged for supposed breaches of sharia law, women were banned from going to market, and girls were stopped from going to school. But it was only after the shooting, and a subsequent near-miraculous recovery, that she became a truly global figure.
She opened a Twitter account on her last day of school in July 2017 and now has more than a million followers.
"I know that millions of girls around the world are out of school and may never get the opportunity to complete their education," Malala wrote at the time.
During a recent appearance at the World Economic Forum in Davos, the feminist campaigner urged women to "change the world" without waiting for the help of men.
"We won’t ask men to change the world, we’re going to do it ourselves," Malala said. "We’re going to stand up for ourselves, we’re going to raise our voices and we’re going to change the world."
--- with inputs from AFP.
