ISLAMABAD: Almost six years after Swat’s bravest daughter had to be airlifted for emergency surgery following an assassination attempt, Malala Yousafzai has come back home — though for a brief visit.

Her return marks a significant victory over extremist elements in the country, and gives international credence to the many sacrifices the nation has made over the last decade.

Arriving at Islamabad airport, in the early hours of Thursday morning, the youngest-ever Nobel laureate was visibly cheerful as she exited the aeroplane. Malala, travelling with her father and younger brother, is here on a four-day visit.

Speaking at a gathering arranged in her honour at PM House, where she and her family had earlier met Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, Malala broke into tears as she spoke of her love for her country.

Abbasi assures Nobel laureate that govt, people of Pakistan stand with her

“To tell you the truth, I still can’t believe this is actually happening,” she said.

“I was always dreaming for the past five years that I come home… whenever I would travel to London or New York, I would pretend that I was in Pakistan — driving around in Islamabad or Karachi,” she said. Malala covered her tear-filled eyes with her hands and told the noticeably emotional audience that now that her visit had become reality, she was extremely happy.

Clad in traditional shalwar kameez, with a dupatta on her head, Malala said she would never have left the country had it not been absolutely necessary, and that she was happy to see Pakistan on its way back to being a peaceful country that it was when she was a young girl.

Malala spoke of Pakistan’s immense potential to transform into a peaceful, modern state. For this she urged the nation, political parties and the provinces to shun their differences and unite for the progress of the country.

Malala’s activism dates back to 2008, when she was just eleven years of age. The Taliban had gained control of the Swat valley and imposed a ban on girls’ education. The horrors they inflicted scared away the small number of activists in the region, but they could not stop Malala, as she volunteered to write an anonymous blog for the BBC Urdu Service telling the story of a girl who wanted to study but couldn’t because of terrorists.

Malala was later approached by the New York Times to do a documentary. During that period, the Pakistan army had launched a full-scale operation against the Taliban, which forced many of the residents of Swat to leave the warzone.

Malala was once again away from school.

After the military operation had ended, Malala went back to Swat to resume her studies. In October 2011, she was nominated for the International Children’s Peace Prize becoming the first Pakistani to have ever been nominated. Two months later she was awar­ded the National Peace Award for Youth by then prime minister Yousuf Raza Gilani.

By 2012, Malala had gained a lot of popularity for her activism. Death threats were not uncommon and many letters were sent to her home warning her to stop. On Oct 9, 2012, the Taliban attacked her as she was riding a bus home from school. The bullet went through her head and neck, grazing her brain as it ended up in her shoulder. She was immediately taken to a military hospital in Peshawar, and later flown to the United Kingdom.

Since her near-miraculous recovery, Malala has continued her fight for education, setting up the Malala Fund, which has programmes in Pakistan, Nigeria, Syria and Kenya. To date, the Fund has spent over seven million dollars on female education in Pakistan. The government of Pakistan helped set up the Fund by donating $10 million to Unesco.

Few can lay claim — by the end of their lives — to even half of what Malala has achieved in her youth. She spent her 17th birthday in Nigeria advocating for the freedom of hundreds of girls kidnapped by Boko Haram. Later that year, she became the youngest winner of the Nobel peace prize. She questioned United States president Barack Obama on his drone policy in northwest Pakistan. She donated $50,000 to help rebuild the United Nations schools in Gaza, and has established a school for Syrian girls in Lebanon.

Her return to the country has come at a time when Pakistan has been alienated by the US for allegedly “not doing enough” in the fight against terrorism. Prime Minister Abbasi in his tribute speech to Malala highlighted Pakistan’s great strides in the war against terror, recalling that when the young activist had left in 2012, the country was ravaged in war, but the sacrifices of 6,500 soldiers, and 25,000 civilians had helped return peace to Pakistan.

The prime minister assured Malala that the government and people of Pakistan were standing with her to support her. Mr Abbasi asked Malala to share Pakistan’s message of peace with the world and on the international stage where she so proudly represents Pakistan.

Several diplomats, activists and other government ministers were also present in the event.

Published in Dawn, March 30th, 2018