Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala Yousafzai will attend a summit on girls’ education hosted in Islamabad to advance girls’ education and promote awareness of women’s empowerment.
On October 9, 2012, Malala, a supporter of girls’ education, and her friends Kainat and Shazia were attacked by the outlawed Tehreek-i Taliban Pakistan (TTP) as they were making their way back from school in the Swat valley of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.The TTP, infuriated by her activism, shot
her, critically injuring her in the process. Following her initial treatment, Malala was evacuated from the nation. Since then, the Nobel laureate has only made a few trips back to the nation.
“I am excited to join Muslim leaders from around the world for a critical conference on girls’ education,” Malala said today in a post on X.
“On Sunday, 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 & girls.”
She will be present at the summit, which will focus on girls’ education in Muslim communities and is set for January 11 and 12, according to a
representative for her Malala Fund charity.
Afghanistan, the only country where girls and women are banned from attending school and university, is set to host a two-day international conference to address the challenges faced by women’s access to education. The Taliban government, which returned to power in 2021, has imposed an austere version of Islamic law, which the UN has called “gender apartheid.” The conference will be inaugurated by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and will bring together ministers and ambassadors from 44 countries, as well as representatives from the United Nations and the World Bank. The conference aims to empower girls through education.
Malala returned to her hometown of Swat in 2018, over five years after the attack. She returned that year and met flood victims while touring regions devastated by the unprecedented monsoon flooding.
