Returning to Pakistan after five years it was an emotional moment for Malala Yousafzai, who has earned worldwide respect and admiration for the extraordinary courage with which she fought for girls' right to education. At a gathering hosted by Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi in her honour, she broke into tears as she spoke of her longing to be in Pakistan. That she could not do for security reasons. When she was only 15, the Taliban had shot her in the head, also wounding two other girls, while riding a bus on their way back from school in her native Swat. The attack turned out to be an anti-climax for the violent extremists who had been burning schools in Swat, other parts of KP and Fata. She was taken to a military hospital in Peshawar for emergency treatment, and from there flown to the UK for a complicated brain surgery. Following her miraculous survival, she resumed her campaign for female education, turning into a global icon for girls' education.
She became the youngest ever Nobel laureate for her efforts, also picking up several international accolades along the way. She has set up Malala Fund for female education, promoting her cause in Pakistan, Nigeria, Kenya and Syria, also helping rebuild UN schools in Gaza. Malala is not an accidental heroine or, as some of her detractors in this country suggest, a willing tool in the hands of Western world to make Pakistan look like a bastion of violent extremism. On the contrary, she symbolizes the resilient spirit of Pakistanis with which they have been resisting the onslaught of extremist forces. She started writing a popular blog for the BBC Urdu Service on life under the Taliban when she was only 11. That brought her death threats, but did not stop her activism. It needs to be remembered that before she was badly wounded in October 2012 and her story came to international attention, Malala was nominated for the prestigious International Children's Peace Prize, and a couple of months later, awarded the National Peace Award for Youth by the then PPP government.
Malala has stayed connected with Pakistan, ably representing the country on the world stage while pursuing her studies at Oxford. Always clad in national dress at international forums and during meetings with world leaders, she speaks for her country at every available opportunity. She has been a vocal critic of US drone strikes in the tribal areas. This time she came for a brief visit, but she has made her intention known to return for good, and participate in national politics to become the prime minister of this country. She is only 20 years old with unquestionable leadership qualities. Who knows what lies ahead for her? But at this point, there is a lot about Malala Yousafzai to make her fellow Pakistanis proud of her. She embodies the best and the bravest among us.
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