Khyber Pakhtunkhwa: Malala Yousafzai returns to her hometown after 13 years
For the first time since 2012, Malala Yousafzai has returned to Barkana, in the district of Shangla, under tight security measures. The Nobel Prize winner visited the school and the girls' college she founded, meeting students and their families. Her return comes at a time of great instability for Pakistan, marked by continuous attacks by the Pakistani Taliban and the Islamic State, in competition with each other.
Islamabad (AsiaNews) - For the first time since 2012, Malala Yousafzai has returned to her hometown of Barkana, in the district of Shangla, in the Pakistani province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The visit, which took place yesterday under strict security measures, was a symbolic moment for the Nobel Prize-winning activist, who survived an attack by the Pakistani Taliban because of her commitment to female education.
At the time, Malala was only 15 years old: she was shot in the head by armed men belonging to the extremist Islamic group the Taliban for defending girls‘ right to education. She was rushed to the UK and went on to become a global icon in the fight for girls’ education.
‘As a child, I spent every holiday in Shangla, Pakistan, playing by the river and sharing meals with my extended family,’ the activist wrote on social media. ’It was a joy for me to return there today, after 13 long years, to be surrounded by the mountains, dip my hands in the cold river and laugh with my beloved cousins. This place is very dear to my heart and I hope to return here again and again’.
Accompanied by her father, Ziauddin Yousafzai, her husband, Asser Malik, and her brother, Malala arrived by helicopter in Barkana, where she met her family and visited her family's cemetery. She also stopped at the girls' school and college that she herself founded in 2018, an institution that today provides free education to about a thousand students in an area where, until a few years ago, there was no government institute for higher education for girls.
‘Malala met the students, inspected the classrooms and encouraged them to study to build a better future,’ said a school official, emphasising that the Malala Fund will continue to ensure high educational standards to promote female education in Pakistan.
During the visit, which lasted three hours in total, Malala also stopped at the home of her maternal family and met the activist Shahzad Roy, who runs the Shangla Girls School and College.
‘Her visit was kept secret to avoid any incidents,’ a senior local official told Agence France Press on condition of anonymity. ‘Even the locals were unaware of her plans to visit.’
Malala's arrival in Pakistan comes at a time of growing instability. Just one day before her visit, a double suicide attack in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province killed 18 people, including civilians and security personnel.
‘I hope for peace in every corner of our beautiful country. The recent attacks, including the one in Bannu, are heartbreaking,’ Malala commented in a message shared on social media. After her brief visit to Barkana, the activist returned to the capital, Islamabad.
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