Malala Yousafzai, Pakistan's first Nobel Peace Prize laureate, visited her hometown of Barkana in the Shangla district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province on Wednesday, marking her first return since she was targeted in a Taliban shooting 13 years ago.

She arrived by helicopter and was accompanied by her father, Ziauddin Yousafzai, and her husband, Aseer Malik, whom she married in 2021.

During her visit, Yousafzai met her uncle, Ramazan, who has recently undergone heart surgery in Islamabad.

She also paid her respects at the family’s ancestral graveyard.

Local law enforcement officials confirmed her return to Barkana and outlined the significance of her visit to local educational institutions.

In addition to family visits, Malala Yousafzai toured the school and college she established in Barkana in 2018, which aims to provide free education to around 1,000 girls in a region previously lacking functional educational facilities for females.

According to local officials, she engaged with students, inspected classrooms, and encouraged them to pursue their studies to secure a brighter future.

The Malala Fund, an advocacy group for girls’ education co-founded by Yousafzai, has committed to ensuring high educational standards in the institutions she supports.

Education activist Shahzad Roy, who oversees the Shangla Girls School and College through his organization Zindagi Trust, was present to brief her on the progress and resources of the college.

This visit marks Yousafzai's ongoing connection with her homeland and follows her previous trips to Pakistan, including a visit in 2018 which was her first return after the assassination attempt.

She also visited flood-affected areas in 2022 and participated in the International Conference on Girls' Education in Muslim Communities in Islamabad earlier this year.

Following her short visit to Barkana, Yousafzai returned to Islamabad.