The Nobel Peace Prize prize and education activist Malala Yousafzai returned to her native village Barkana in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa district on Wednesday 13 years after surviving an assassination attempt by activists.
Yousafzai was a 15-year-old schoolgirl when Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) climbed aboard a bus and pulled her in the head in the SWAT valley remote near the Afghan border.
Since then, she has made rare visits to the valley, but it was the first time that she had returned to her childhood house in Shangla since her evacuation in the United Kingdom after the attack.
“Child, I spent all the holidays in Shangla, Pakistan, playing near the river and sharing meals with my extended family,” she said on X.
“It was such a joy for me to go back today – after 13 long years – to be surrounded by the mountains, to dip my hands in the cold river and to laugh with my beloved cousins. This place is close to my heart and I hope to come back again and again.”
Yousafzai was accompanied by her father, her husband and her brother for the high security visit by helicopter who only lasted three hours.
The region was sealed for several hours to ensure the security of its visit on Wednesday, which included a stop in local education projects supported by its Malala fund.
“His visit was very secret to avoid any unfortunate incident,” said a senior administration official AFP Under cover of anonymity because he was not allowed to speak to the media.
“Even the inhabitants were not aware of his plans to visit.”
She became an education activist and the youngest winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in the World at the age of 17.
In January, she addressed the leaders of the Muslim world at a conference on education in Islamabad where she called for action against the Afghan Taliban, who prohibited teenage girls from going to school.
“I pray for peace in all corners of our beautiful country. Recent attacks, including Bannu yesterday, are heartbreaking,” said Yousafzai about the attack.