MINGORA: Malala Yousafzai and her family members returned for a brief, emotional visit on Saturday to their home in Swat which they were forced to leave after a Taliban gunman shot her more than five years ago.

Apparently because they left their home in tragic circumstances and since their return once seemed impossible, Malala and her parents broke into tears when they entered their former home, a close friend of Malala who was present on the occasion, told Dawn.

“Malala and her father both cried as they entered the house,” said Abna Khan. “It was a strange, emotional scene as nobody could control emotions.”

Malala visited every room of her house and showed them to her friends.

“She chatted about our school with us and was very excited to meet us after five and a half years,” said Malaik Noor, another of Malala’s classmates.

Nobel laureate and her parents break into tears when they enter their former house in valley

“We never believed we would be able to meet our beloved friend here in Swat as people often said she would never come back,” said Rida Slaiman.

“I left Swat with my eyes closed and now I am back with my eyes open,” Malala told AFP, referring to how she was airlifted out unconscious after the attack in 2012.

“I am extremely delighted. My dream has come true. Peace has returned to Swat because of the invaluable sacrifices rendered by my brothers and sisters,” she said at a school outside Mingora, the district’s main town.

After visiting her former home, she and her family members went to the Swat Cadet College, to attend a ceremony. They were received warmly by the staff of the college.

The 20-year-old Nobel laureate wrote in the visitors’ book of the college: “My first visit to Swat valley after five and half years; I feel so happy. I am proud of my land and culture.

“The cadet college is beautiful and I thank the staff and principal for welcoming me. Best wishes and prayers.”

Because of security concerns the trip was kept under wraps. And the entire visit is said to have lasted just over two hours.

Malala took pictures of the valley from the army helicopter that took her there. She tweeted them, saying: “The most beautiful place on Earth to me.”

“So much joy seeing my family home, visiting friends and putting my feet on this soil again,” she added.

Her family also told AFP of their joy in coming back home. “I am unable to believe I am back in Swat and meeting my own people,” her father Ziauddin Yousafzai said, in comments echoed by her mother Toor Pekai.

Residents of Swat generally praised Malala for helping to generate improvements in education — especially for girls — in the conservative region.

Earlier this month a school built with money from the Malala Fund opened in Shangla district, northeast of Mingora.

Malala said she could see vast changes in the valley since 2012, but added she had read reports which claimed that up to 50 per cent of the children were still out of school.

“We will have to work very hard to bring them all to school,” she added.

“People have positive as well as negative views about her,” a resident, Arshad Ali, said about Malala.

“We need to see what she has done until now; she has constructed a model school at Shangla reflecting her sincerity of purpose — to promote education especially among girls in the country.”

Meanwhile, some people in Shangla district told Dawn that they expected Malala and her family to visit them. However, their hopes were dashed when they learnt that they had returned to Islamabad.

Malala’s friends at the Shahpur Public School also kept waiting for her. They felt disappointed when she didn’t turn up to meet them, but expressed their support for the Nobel laureate’s efforts for girls’ education.

Published in Dawn, April 1st, 2018