Malala reunited with attack schoolfriends

LONDON: A year after they found themselves covered in each other’s blood after being shot by a lone gunman in the back of a school van in Swat, education activist Malala Yousafzai was reunited on Saturday with her two fellow schoolmates in London. Kainat Riaz and Shazia Ramzan met Malala during an event at Edinburgh University in Scotland, the first time they have seen her since the attack. A Taliban gunman boarded the girls’ school bus in Swat in October 2012 and opened fire at Malala to punish her for championing girls’ rights to education. Malala, now 16, was shot in the head while Kainat and Shazia were both wounded in the attack. All three girls are now living and studying in Britain, where Malala received medical treatment for her injuries at a hospital in Birmingham. They were the guests of honour at the launch on Saturday of the Global Citizenship Commission, a body of leaders representing politics, religious institutions, law and philanthropy. “After I was shot the terrorists thought that I would not continue the struggle for education, but not only did I not stop my campaign but now Kainat and Shazia are with me and they are also supporting me,” Malala told the event. “They are not afraid, we are not afraid and now people are supporting us and that is the greatest courage, and that is the weapon that we have got, the unity and togetherness.” Malala was also presented with an honorary masters degree from the university by former British prime minister Gordon Brown, who has backed her campaign. The event is the latest in a series to fete Malala’s work. She went to Buckingham Palace on Friday to meet Queen Elizabeth II and her husband Prince Philip, while last week she met US President Barack Obama. Malala was among the favourites to win the Nobel Peace Prize this month, but she lost out to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons.