“Happy to be back in Pakistan,” says Nobel Laureate Malala Yousafzai
Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai arrived in Islamabad on January 11, 2025, to attend the international summit on “Girls’ Education in Muslim Communities.” This marks her third visit to the country.
“I’m truly honoured, overwhelmed, and happy to be back in Pakistan,” Malala said upon her arrival at the summit.
The education activist, who survived a deadly attack by the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) in 2012, has returned to her homeland only a handful of times since. The summit gathers representatives from Muslim-majority countries, where millions of girls are deprived of education.
Malala is set to address the summit on Sunday, stating, “I will speak about protecting the rights of all girls to attend school and why leaders must hold the Taliban accountable for their crimes against Afghan women and girls.”
Federal Education Minister Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui shared that the Afghan Taliban government was invited to the summit, but no response has been received from Islamabad. Afghanistan remains the only country where girls and women are banned from attending schools and universities.
Since returning to power in 2021, the Afghan Taliban government has imposed strict regulations, which the United Nations has labeled as “gender apartheid.”
Pakistan also faces a severe education crisis, with over 26 million children out of school due to poverty, one of the highest numbers globally.
Malala rose to global prominence after surviving a TTP attack on a school bus in Swat in 2012. She was evacuated to the UK, where she became a global advocate for girls’ education and, at the age of 17, the youngest-ever Nobel Peace Prize recipient.
Her last visit to Pakistan was in 2022, when she toured flood-affected areas with her parents to raise international awareness about the devastation caused by climate change. Her first visit was in March 2018, over five years after the TTP attack forced her to leave the country.
