Malala Yousafzai has made a return to her hometown in Pakistan, 13 years after she was shot in the head by the Taliban.
The 27-year-old Nobel Peace Prize laureate shared a photo of herself in the beautiful northern region of Pakistan on social media. She mentioned that this was her first visit back to the area since the brutal attack when she was only 15 years old.
Malala Yousafzai shared her emotional return to Shangla, Pakistan, where she spent her childhood holidays. In a heartfelt message, she recalled playing by the river and enjoying meals with her extended family. After 13 years, she was overjoyed to revisit the area, surrounded by mountains, dipping her hands in the cold river, and laughing with her beloved cousins. Malala expressed how dear this place is to her and her hopes to return many more times.
In October 2012, Malala was shot in the head by the Taliban while riding a bus home from school. After the attack, she was flown to a hospital in Birmingham, England for life-saving surgery. Following her recovery, she and her family moved to Britain, where Malala graduated from Oxford University. Since then, she has dedicated her life to advocating for girls’ and women’s education globally through the Malala Fund.
During her emotional visit to Shahpur, Shangla, where she was attacked, Malala was accompanied by her father, husband, and brother. She met with close relatives and visited the Shangla Girls’ High School and College, which was built with support from the Malala Fund.
During her visit to Shangla, Malala Yousafzai addressed students at a special event at the Shangla Girls’ High School and College. Afterward, she visited her grandmother’s grave in the family cemetery. After spending around two and a half hours in Shangla, Malala left for Islamabad by helicopter. The visit was closely guarded, with strict security measures in place throughout.
In a post shared on Wednesday, Malala expressed her concern over the ongoing instability in Pakistan, her home country. She wrote, “I pray for peace in every corner of our beautiful country. The recent attacks, including the one in Bannu yesterday, are heartbreaking. I offer my condolences to the victims and their families and pray for the safety of everyone in my homeland.”
Malala was referring to a tragic attack earlier in the week in Bannu, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where at least 12 people lost their lives. A group linked to the Pakistani Taliban took responsibility for the attack, in which two suicide bombers breached the wall of a military base, and other attackers stormed the compound.