Malala Yousafzai reaches Pakistan as girls’ education summit begin

ISLAMABAD: Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai on Saturday reached Pakistan after a gap of over two years to attend the two-day international conference on girls’ education in Islamabad.

A two-day conference titled, Girls’ Education in Muslim Communities: Challenges and Opportunities, will held in Islamabad from today, aimed at empowering Muslim girls worldwide.

“I’m truly honoured, overwhelmed, and happy to be back in Pakistan,” Malala said as she landed in Islamabad on her third visit to the country.

Malala was received by the Parliamentary Secretary for the Education Ministry, Farah Naz Akbar, at Islamabad International Airport.

Taking on social media platform X, she wrote, “I will speak about protecting rights for all girls to go to school, and why leaders must hold the Taliban accountable for their crimes against Afghan women and girls.”

The conference will bring together over 150 delegates from 47 countries and representatives from international organisations including Unesco, Unicef, and the World Bank.

Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Secretary General Hissein Brahim Taha has also arrived in Pakistan to participate in the event.

Talking to the international media, Federal Education Minister Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui said the Aghan government had been invited to attend, but Islamabad has not received a response.

Afghanistan is the only country in the world where girls and women are banned from going to school and university. Since returning to power in 2021, the Afghan Taliban government in Kabul has imposed strict rules that the United Nations has called “gender apartheid”.

More to Follow