ISLAMABAD – Nobel peace laureate Malala Yousafzai returned to PakistanThursday, saying tearfully that it was “a dream” to come home for the firsttime since she was airlifted to Britain after being shot in the head by aTaliban gunman more than five years ago.
The 20-year-old was overcome with emotion as she made a televised speechfrom the Prime Minister’s House in Islamabad, breaking down in tears as shespoke of the beauty of her native Swat valley and how she imagines thestreets of Pakistan from London and New York.
“Always it has been my dream that I should go to Pakistan and there, inpeace and without any fear, I can move on streets, I can meet people, I cantalk to people.
“And I think that it’s my old home again… so it is actually happening,and I am grateful to all of you.”
She added: “I don’t cry much, I don’t know why today.”
The activist had arrived unannounced with her parents under tight securityovernight. Pakistanis awakening to the news she was back in the countryflooded social media with messages of welcome — but others accused her ofa conspiracy to foment dissent.
Malala is widely respected internationally as a global icon for girls’education, but opinion is divided in Pakistan, where some conservativesview her as a Western agent on a mission to shame her country.
Residents of Swat said they were happy to see her return.
“Parents who were scared in 2012 are not scared in 2018, and Malala hasplayed a great role in this,” said Shaista Hakeem, a student at SwatUniversity, who credited her academic career to Malala’s influence overfamilies in the region.
Malala became a global symbol for human rights after a gunman boarded herschool van in Swat on October 9, 2012, asked “Who is Malala?” and shot her.
The Pakistani Taliban accused her of “anti-Islamic” activities and of”smearing” the militant group in statements released after the attack.
She was treated for her injuries in the British city of Birmingham, whereshe also completed her schooling.
The youngest-ever winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014, she hascontinued to be a vocal advocate for girls’ education while pursuing herstudies at Oxford University.
– ‘Charged’ meeting with Pakistani feminists –
Later Thursday Malala met with top feminists from across Pakistan at anevent organised by Oscar-winning director Sharmeen Obaid-Chinoy, who calledparticipants two days earlier and told them to come to Islamabad — but forsecurity reasons refused to reveal why.
“She told me, ‘It’ll be the highlight of your year,'” said Digital RightsFoundation founder Nighat Dad, who attended the meeting. “If Sharmeen saysthat, you have to go.”
The room, she said, was charged. “So much power and emotion and hope. She(Malala) said ‘I’m so emotional, words can’t express what I’m feeling rightnow’. It was the same for us… I think Malala came bringing hope.”
Earlier, Malala met Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi and told theaudience at her televised speech that the Malala Fund has already put morethan $6 million into girls’ education in the country.
Earlier this month, a school opened in Swat that was constructed and fundedwith part of her Nobel Prize money.
But among the messages of welcome are pockets of intense criticism fromsome Pakistanis, including hardline Islamists as well as members of theconservative middle class who support education for girls but object toairing the country’s problems abroad.
“Dear Pakistanis! Malala is not your enemy. Your enemies were thosemonsters who shot her point blank on her way to school,” wrote Twitter userShahira Lashari.
Her schedule for the four-day trip is being closely guarded, with officialsrefusing to disclose her itinerary for security reasons.
Malala began her campaign aged just 11, when she started writing a blog –under a pseudonym — for the BBC’s Urdu service in 2009 about life underthe Taliban in Swat, which they took over in 2007.
Opponents were murdered, people were publicly flogged for supposed breachesof sharia law, women were banned from going to market, and girls werestopped from going to school.
But it was only after the shooting, and a subsequent near-miraculousrecovery, that she became a truly global figure.
As for the militants who attacked her: the man suspected of actually firingthe gun at Malala, named by officials as Ataullah Khan, has long beenbelieved to be on the run in Afghanistan, along with Pakistani Talibanchief Mullah Fazlullah, who ordered the attack.
In 2015, it was reported that eight of 10 men who had been convicted overthe attack had actually been cleared. – APP/AFP