The father of 15-year-old Pakistani activist girl Malala Yousufzai, who was shot and wounded by a Taliban gunman, vowed Thursday 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 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 Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan (TTP) have vowed to kill Malala, 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. The TTP said they targeted Malala because she promotes secular “Western thinking,” and have vowed to finish the job in the future.
Malala’s father spoke alongside Interior Minister Rehman Malik at the minister’s 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 school books 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 15-year-old is being treated at Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham in central England, which has a trauma center specializing in treating severe gunshot wounds, major head injuries and road accident victims. It is also home to the Royal Center for Defense Medicine, the primary receiving unit for military casualties returning from overseas.
