Heroine’s return: Malala (second from right) arriving in Islamabad to attend a summit on ‘Girls’ Education in Muslim Communities’. — AFP
Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai said she was “overwhelmed” to be back in her native Pakistan, as she arrived for a global summit on girls’ education in the Islamic world.
The education activist was shot by the Pakistan Taliban in 2012 when she was a schoolgirl, and has returned to the country only a handful of times since.
“I’m truly honoured, overwhelmed and happy to be back in Pakistan,” she said as she arrived at the conference in the capital Islamabad with her parents yesterday.
The two-day summit brings together representatives from Muslim-majority countries, where tens of millions of girls are out of school.Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif was scheduled to address attendees, including local schoolgirls and university students.
“At last, we have a good initiative on Muslim girls’ education,” said Zahra Tariq, a 23-year-old studying clinical psychology.
“Those in rural areas are still facing problems. In some cases, their families are the first barrier,” she said.
Malala is due to address the summit today, and said she would focus on Afghanistan – the only country in the world where girls and women are banned from going to school and university.
“I will speak about protecting rights for all girls to go to school, and why leaders must hold the Taliban accountable for their crimes against Afghan women & girls,” she posted on social media platform X on Friday.
Pakistan’s education minister, Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui, said the Taliban government in Afghanistan had been invited to attend, but Islamabad had not received a response. — AFP
