ISLAMABAD, Jan 11, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - Nobel Peace Prize laureate Malala 
Yousafzai said she was "overwhelmed" to be back in her native Pakistan on 
Saturday, as she attended a summit on girls' education in the Islamic world 
that has been snubbed by Afghanistan's Taliban government.

The summit has brought together education leaders from Muslim-majority 
countries, but without Afghanistan -- the only country in the world where 
girls are banned from school.

"The Muslim world including Pakistan faces significant challenges in ensuring 
equitable access to education for girls," Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said 
at the opening of the summit in the capital Islamabad.

"Denying education to girls is tantamount to denying their voice and their 
choice, while depriving them of their right to a bright future."

Pakistan Education Minister Khalid Maqbool Siddiqui told AFP that Islamabad 
had extended an invitation to Kabul, "but no-one from the Afghan government 
was at the conference".

Muhammad al-Issa, a Saudi cleric and secretary general of the Muslim World 
League -- which has backed the summit -- said religion was no grounds for 
blocking girls from school.

"The entire Muslim world has agreed that girls education is important, and 
those who say that girls education is un-Islamic are wrong," he said.

Yousafzai, who was shot by Pakistan Taliban militants in 2012 when she was a 
schoolgirl, is due to address the conference on Sunday.

"I'm truly honoured, overwhelmed and happy to be back in Pakistan," she told 
AFP as she arrived at the conference with her parents.

On Friday, she posted on social media that she would speak about "why leaders 
must hold the Taliban accountable for their crimes against Afghan women & 
girls".

Since returning to power in 2021, the Afghan Taliban government has imposed 
an austere version of Islamic law that the United Nations has called "gender 
apartheid".

- 'At last' -

Pakistan is facing its own severe education crisis, with more than 26 million 
children out of school, according to government figures, one of the highest 
numbers in the world.

Sharif said "inadequate infrastructure, safety concerns, as well as deeply 
entrenched societal norms" were barriers to girls education.

Zahra Tariq, a 23-year-old studying clinical psychology who attended the 
opening of the summit, told AFP: "At last we have a good initiative on Muslim 
girls' education," said

"Those in rural areas are still facing problems. In some cases their families 
are the first barrier."

Yousafzai became a household name after she was attacked by Pakistan Taliban 
militants on a school bus in the remote Swat valley in 2012.

Militancy was widespread in the region at the time as the war between the 
Afghan Taliban and NATO forces raged across the border in Afghanistan.

The Pakistan and Afghan Taliban are separate groups but share close links and 
similar ideologies, including a strong disbelief in educating girls.

Yousafzai was evacuated to the United Kingdom after her attack and went on to 
become a global advocate for girls' education and, at the age of 17, the 
youngest Nobel Peace Prize winner.