ISLAMABAD: The father of a 15-year-old Pakistani activist girl who was shot and wounded by a Taleban gunman vowed yesterday that she would return home after finishing medical treatment abroad despite new insurgent threats against her.
The comments by the father, Ziauddin Yousufzai, were recorded by Pakistani state television. He’s expected to fly soon to Britain to see his daughter and it was the first time he has spoken publicly since the shooting.
The Taleban have vowed to kill her, raising questions about whether it would be safe for her to return but her father dispelled reports the family might seek asylum abroad.
“I first laughed at it because all of our sacrifices, my personal (sacrifices), or this attack on my daughter, cannot have such a cheap purpose that we would go to some other country and live the rest of our life there,” he said, speaking in Urdu.
Malala’s father spoke alongside Interior Minister Rehman Malik at the minister’s Islamabad office. Malik promised that the government would protect Malala and her family when they returned. Malik said Malala had asked her father to bring some of her schoolbooks with him when he goes to Britain.
“Even while sitting there she is taking care of her schooling,” said Malik. Malala has started talking and has spoken to both of her parents by phone, the interior minister said.
The medical team caring for Malala at Birmingham hospital said in a statement yesterday that she was comfortable and continued to respond well to treatment.
Last Friday, the hospital released the first photographs of Malala since the shooting showing her lying in her hospital bed and said she was able to stand with help and write.
Haji Zahid Khan, a member of a major tribal council in Swat, was shot in the head by a Taleban gunman in August but managed to survive. Khan criticized the army and police for not taking his case seriously enough, which he believes emboldened the militants.
Father vows Malala will return to Pakistan
