‘Back with eyes open’: Malala visits Pakistan district where she was shot
In the nine years since the army drove out the Taliban, Swat has become mostly peaceful, though there are still occasional militant attacks
Malala Yousafzai visited the Swat valley on Saturday for her first trip back to the once militant-infested Pakistani region where she was shot in the head by the Taliban more than five years ago.
“I left Swat with my eyes closed and now I am back with my eyes open,” she told Agence France-Presse, referring to how she was airlifted out in a coma 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, where she was escorted by the Pakistani military.
The brief trip by the 20-year-old Nobel laureate is a highly symbolic moment for Pakistan, which regularly touts Swat as a success story in its long battle with extremism as it defends itself against accusations by the US and others that its northwest remains a safe haven for militancy.
The visit – on which she was accompanied by her father, mother, and two brothers – was kept tightly under wraps.
