Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai wiped tears from her eyes as she returned to Pakistan for the first time since being shot in the head by Taliban gunmen six years ago.

"It's the happiest day of my life," she said during a brief address on national television.

"I still can't believe it's happening. I don't normally cry. I'm still 20 years old but I've seen so many things in life."

Welcoming her home, Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said she had returned "as the most prominent citizen of Pakistan".

"It is now actually happening and I am here," Malala said while meeting Mr Abbasi at his office in Islamabad.


She had often thought about returning to her home country, the 20-year-old university student said.

Posting a picture of herself with her family on Twitter, Malala wrote: "So much joy seeing my family home, visiting friends and putting my feet on this soil again."

Image: The Nobel Peace Prize winner with her family. Pic: Malala Yousafzai

Rida Siyal, who said she had been a "good friend" of Malala's before the shooting, said she was "delighted" to see her back, adding that she had "defeated the dark force of fear".

Ahmad Shah, who said he was a friend of Malala's father, said she "should have returned home much earlier".

Malala was attacked after campaigning for girls to get a school education - going on to became a global symbol for human rights - and is widely respected internationally for her bravery and activism.

At the start of her four-day trip, she was escorted through Islamabad's Benazir Bhutto International Airport amid tight security.

But while many Pakistanis expressed their delight at her return on Twitter, opinion is divided in Pakistan, where some conservatives view her as a Western agent on a mission to shame her country.

It is unlikely that she will travel to her home region of Swat. "She was not given permission due to security concerns," a relative told Reuters.

Image: The feminist campaigner recently urged women to 'change the world' without waiting for the help of men

The activist, who was treated in Birmingham following the 2012 shooting, was the youngest ever winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2014 and currently studies at Oxford University.

Malala opened a Twitter account on her last day of school in 2017 and now has more than a million followers.

"I know that millions of girls around the world are out of school and may never get the opportunity to complete their education," Malala wrote at the time.

During a recent appearance at the World Economic Forum in Davos, the feminist campaigner urged women to "change the world" without waiting for the help of men.

"We won't ask men to change the world, we're going to do it ourselves," she said.

"We're going to stand up for ourselves, we're going to raise our voices and we're going to change the world."

Earlier this month, a new girls' school built with her Nobel prize money opened in Shangla, near her home district of Swat.