Malala's plan to visit Swat valley uncertain

ISLAMABAD: Education activist Malala Yousafzai is back in Pakistan for the first time since she was shot by Taliban in 2012. The Nobel Prize winner wishes to visit her hometown Swat where the horrific incident occurred, but the trip is in limbo due to security reasons.

Yousafzai has been living in the UK since October 2012. She was shifted from Pakistan to a hospital in Birmingham in a precarious condition after she had sustained a bullet in her head in a targeted attack by the banned Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in Swat.

According to the Associated Press, The 20-year-old Malala Yousafzai has asked the authorities to allow her the visit to Shangla village where a school currently operates under the Malala Fund.

According to reports, Mingora’s security was tightened up after following the possibility of Malala arriving there. Malala wants to travel to Swat to see her former schools friends and relatives. Authorities have yet to give an official statement regarding the visit.

Malala Yousafzai will stay in Islamabad for four days and have met key national leaders and officials including Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi.

“Precise details of her itinerary have been kept secret in view of the sensitivity surrounding the visit,” a government official said of the trip, which is expected to last four days.”

Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said that when Malala moved out of the country, terrorism was at its peak. However, with the strong resolve of the nation and security forces, this scourge has been crushed. Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said two hundred thousand troops are still actively engaged in this war.

Addressing the welcome ceremony organized in her honor, Malala Yousafzai said she had a dream of returning to the country for the last five years. She said Pakistan’s future lies in its new generation which must be educated.

She made a surprise visit to Pakistan with her parents under tight security overnight. Social media was crammed with messages of welcome and admiration from all around Pakistan hailing her bravery and what she represents.

Malala has become a global symbol for human rights and a strong social activist for girls’ education since a gunman boarded her school bus on October 9, 2012, asked “Who is Malala?” and shot her.