Nobel winner Malala Yousafzai returns to Pakistan for first time since being shot

Kim Hjelmgaard | USA TODAY

Show Caption Hide Caption Malala overcome with emotion upon returning home As Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai spoke to an audience about coming home to Pakistan for the first time since being shot by the Taliban five years ago, the emotions came flooding back - and so did the tears. (March 29)

Malala Yousafzai, the girls' rights activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner, returned to her home country of Pakistan on Thursday for the first time since she was shot in the head by Taliban militants in 2012.

Details of the 20-year-old's visit were kept secret, but hours after Yousafzai's arrival in Islamabad she met with Pakistan Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi, his office said.

"Today is the happiest day of my life, because I have returned to my country, I have stepped foot on my nation's soil again and am among my own people," Yousafzai said in a teary speech given during a ceremony to mark the occasion.

It wasn’t immediately clear how long Yousafzai would be Pakistan or whether she planned to travel to her hometown of Swat where the shooting occurred. She has not made the trip to Pakistan in six years, partly due to ongoing security concerns.

Yousafzai was just 14 years-old when Taliban gunmen boarded a small school bus in which she was making her way home after an exam and demanded to know "who is Malala?" before opening fire. The bullet grazed her brain and lodged in her neck.

Yousafzai, already known for her activism at the time of her attack, was airlifted to Birmingham in Britain. She remained in the country after undergoing medical treatment there and started studying at the University of Oxford last year.

5 women who are changing the world From pop singers to activists, here are just some of the women that are changing the world.

Pakistan's Taliban said she was targeted because she was "pro-West" and promoted "Western culture in Pashtun areas." Pashto is her native language. The Taliban also said, though later denied doing so, that female education is contrary to Islam.

After winning the Nobel in 2014, along with Indian child-rights activist Kailash Satyarthi, Yousafzai said: "Education is one of the blessings of life, and one of its necessities."

More recently she tweeted on March 23, Pakistan Day, "I cherish fond memories of home, of playing cricket on rooftops and singing the national anthem in school."

Yousafzai's return Thursday made instant news in Pakistan.

"Pakistan’s daughter and the global symbol of female education is back in Pakistan. Welcome home @Malala," tweeted Umar Saif, a Pakistani academic.