Malala Yousafzai, 20, has become a global symbol of female education.
Malala Yousafzai, the girls’ rights activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner, returned to her home country of Pakistan on Thursday for the first time since she was shot in the head by Taliban militants in 2012.
Details of the 20-year-old’s visit were kept secret and she has not officially confirmed the trip, but hours after Yousafzai’s arrival in Islamabad she met with Pakistan Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, according to a government statement.
It wasn’t immediately clear how long Yousafzai would be Pakistan or whether she planned to travel to her hometown of Swat where the shooting occurred. She has not made the trip to Pakistan in six years, partly due to ongoing security concerns.
Yousafzai was just 14 years-old when Taliban gunmen boarded a small school bus in which she was making her way home after an exam and demanded to know “who is Malala?” before opening fire. The bullet grazed her brain and lodged in her neck.
Yousafzai, already known for her activism at the time of her attack, was airlifted to Birmingham in Britain. She remained in the country after undergoing medical treatment there and started studying at the University of Oxford last year.
Pakistan’s Taliban said she was targeted because she was “pro-West” and promoted “Western culture in Pashtun areas.” Pashto is her native language. The Taliban also said, though later denied doing so, that female education is contrary to Islam.
After winning the Nobel in 2014, along with Indian child-rights activist Kailash Satyarthi, Yousafzai said: “Education is one of the blessings of life, and one of its necessities.”
More recently she tweeted on March 23, Pakistan Day, “I cherish fond memories of home, of playing cricket on rooftops and singing the national anthem in school.”
Yousafzai’s return Thursday made instant news in Pakistan.
“Pakistan’s daughter and the global symbol of female education is back in Pakistan. Welcome home @Malala,” tweeted Umar Saif, a Pakistani academic.
