SHANGLA: Malala Yousafzai, the Nobel laureate and education activist, returned to her hometown of Barkana in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s Shangla district on Wednesday, marking her first visit since surviving a Taliban assassination attempt in 2012.
During her visit, Malala reunited with family members and paid respects at the ancestral graveyard. She also met her uncle, Ramazan, who recently underwent heart surgery in Islamabad.
According to Karora Station House Officer (SHO) Amjad Alam Khan, Malala arrived in Barkana by helicopter, accompanied by her father, Ziauddin Yousafzai, and her husband, Asser Malik.
As part of her visit, she toured the girls’ school and college she established in 2018, which offers free education to nearly 1,000 students. Before its founding, the district lacked an operational government girls’ college.
“Malala interacted with students, visited classrooms, and encouraged them to focus on their education to secure a promising future,” said SHO Khan. He confirmed that the Malala Fund would continue to support the institution, ensuring access to quality education at no cost.
She also stopped by the home of her maternal relative, Faiz Ahmad, where she spent time with extended family members.
Education activist Shehzad Roy, who oversees the Shangla Girls School and College under Zindagi Trust, was also present. He briefed Malala on the facilities and progress of the institution.
