Malala returns to Pakistan for first time since shooting

Nobel Peace Prize laureate and social activist Malala Yousafzai returned to Pakistan on Thursday, for the first in 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 of India 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.

After her recovery, Yousafzai announced launching a movement for the promotion of girls' education.

She visited a number of countries as official guest where she was warmly welcomed and given an official protocol and reception.

During a visit to Canada last year, she was provided an opportunity to address the country's parliament.

In April 2017, UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres selected Malala Yousafzai to be a UN messenger of peace, the highest honour bestowed by the UN chief on a global citizen.

--IANS

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