Mahira welcomes 'baby girl' Malala in Pakistan (Lead, correcting intro)

Actress Mahira Khan has welcomed Nobel Peace Prize laureate and social activist Malala Yousafzai, whom she described as a "baby girl", on her returning to Pakistan nearly six years after she was attacked.

"Welcome home baby girl Malala!" Mahira tweeted on Thursday morning.

Yousafzai returned to Pakistan on Thursday, nearly six years after she was shot by the Taliban for advocating girls rights to education.

The 20-year-old accompanied by her parents, landed in Islamabad from London at around 1.41 a.m., reports Geo News.

Yousafzai is expected to hold meetings with Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa, as well as other important figures.

In December 2014, Yousafzai, then 17, and India's Kailash Satyarthi received the Nobel Peace Prize for risking their lives to fight for children's rights.

Yousafzai, who belongs to the Swat Valley, has been living in the UK since the attack in October 2012, reports Dawn news.

She was shifted from Pakistan to a hospital in Birmingham in a precarious condition after she had sustained a bullet in her head in a targeted attack by the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in Swat.

She was on her way home in a school van with other girls after taking an exam when the TTP men opened fire on them. Two other girls also sustained gunshot wounds.

--IANS

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