Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai broke down in tears during an emotional return to her native Pakistan on Thursday, six years after she was shot in the head by Taliban gunmen for advocating greater education of girls. Yousafzai, travelling with her father and younger brother, met Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi in the capital, Islamabad, before giving a brief speech on national television.
"It's the happiest day of my life. I still can't believe it's happening," she said, wiping away tears.
"I don't normally cry ... I'm still 20 years old but I've seen so many things in life," added Yousafzai, clad in a traditional shalwar khameez outfit with her head covered with a red-and-blue duppata scarf.
Yousafzai spoke of the importance of education and about the efforts of her charitable foundation to help girls, often switching between English and the Pashto and Urdu languages.
"Welcome home," Abbasi told Yousafzai. "When she went away, she was a child.... She has returned as the most prominent citizen of Pakistan."
It was Yousafzai's first visit to her homeland since she was airlifted to Britain for medical treatment in 2012. But she is unlikely to travel to her home region of Swat, in mountains northwest of Islamabad, due to security threats against her, a relative and security sources told Reuters.
"It's been long-held desire of Malala Yousafzai and her parents to visit Swat and see her relatives and friends. But she was not given permission due to security concerns," said one relative, who declined to be identified.
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