Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai reminisced about her childhood as she returned to her hometown in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province of Pakistan for the first time since she was shot in the head by the Taliban 13 years ago.
Ms Yousafzai arrived in Shangla on Wednesday for a visit that was kept under wraps to ensure her safety and security.
Sharing a photo of herself standing against a backdrop of a snowcapped mountain and a river, Ms Yousafzai said it was “such a joy” to return home after over a decade.
“As a child, I spent every holiday in Shangla, Pakistan, playing by the river and sharing meals with my extended family,” Ms Yousafzai, 27, said.
“It was such 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.”
The activist said the place remained “very dear to my heart and I hope to return again and again”.
Ms Yousafzai was evacuated from Mingora in the Swat Valley after a Pakistani Taliban gunman shot her in the head on a school bus in October 2012. She was 15.
Ms Yousafzai was targeted for speaking out in support of girls' education after the village had fallen to the Pakistani Taliban. Two years later in 2014, she received the Nobel Peace Prize alongside Indian child rights activist Kailash Satyarthi.
Although Ms Yousafzai made a few trips to Pakistan over the past 13 years, this was the first time she went to her hometown.
Security was beefed up in the area, with some places sealed off, as Ms Yousafzai arrived in a helicopter accompanied by her husband and father.
An anonymous government official told the AFP news agency that her “visit was kept highly secret to avoid any untoward incident”. “Even the locals were unaware of her plans to visit,” they said.
Ms Yousafzai met her relatives in Barkana and visited a college established there in 2018 to provide free education to girls. “Malala met students, inspected classes and spoke to students while urging them to study and make their future brighter,” a senior police officer, Amjad Alam Khan, said.
She promised that the Malala Fund would ensure the college provided a high standard of education without charge.
Ms Yousafzai extended condolences to the families of the 13 civilians and five security personnel who were killed in a twin suicide bombing at a military cantonment in Bannu area this week.
A militant group linked to the Pakistani Taliban claimed responsibility for the Bannu bombing, which also left 42 people injured, some critically.
“I pray for peace in every corner of our beautiful country. The recent attacks, including in Bannu yesterday, are heartbreaking. I am sending my condolences to the victims and their families and offer my prayers for the safety of every person in my homeland,” she said.
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