Malala's friend granted asylum in UK wishes to become doctor and return to Pakistan

Pakistani schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai, who was shot by the Taliban for promoting girls' education, has reunited with her lifelong friend, who was injured in the same attack, in Europe.

She met Shazia Ramzan, who has been granted a student visa by the UK to fulfill her dream of becoming a doctor, at Birmingham Airport.

Shazia, 15, suffered gun wounds to the neck and shoulder and Malala was shot in the head, and was airlifted to the UK for treatment, after the attack by the Taliban on 9th October last year.

According to the Independent, the two teenagers were on a school bus when Taliban gunmen came in search of Malala, a vocal campaigner for girls' education.

Malala was airlifted to Birmingham soon after the attack, but Shazia stayed in Pakistan and did not go to school because of continued threats to her life.

Following increasing violence in Pakistan with last month's massacre of female university students in Quetta and the double murder of two sisters for filming themselves dancing, Shazia has been granted a student visa by the UK.

Shazia, whose family faced months of intimidation in Pakistan, said she was so grateful that she has been given the opportunity to study in the UK and become a doctor.

According to the report, with support from the Office of Gordon and Sarah Brown and other charities, including a scholarship from her new school, she has gained a place to complete her studies.

Her ambition is to return to Pakistan as a qualified doctor.