Malala visits ancestral village in Shangla 13 years after being shot

Nobel Peace Prize laureate and education activist Malala Yousafzai returned to her Pakistan home village, 13 years after surviving an assassination attempt by militants.

- Tariq Butt

Malala Yousafzai was a 15-year-old schoolgirl when Pakistan Taliban militants boarded a bus and shot her in the head in the remote Swat Valley near the Afghanistan border.

She has made rare visits to the valley since, but it was the first time she returned to her ancestral village of Barkana Shahpur in Shangla district, since being evacuated to the United Kingdom after the attack, where she interacted with family members and local community.

Arriving via helicopter from Islamabad, Malala Yousafzai was accompanied by her father, mother, husband and brother for the high-security visit which lasted just three hours.

The visit was marked by a warm and emotional welcome from her family and schoolchildren. After arrival, Malala took the opportunity to reconnect with relatives and visit her childhood home, spending time in the place where she had spent her early life.