Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai yesterday said she was excited to be back in Pakistan for the first time since she was shot in 2012 by Taliban militants angered at her championing of education for girls.

Yousafzai said in a brief speech at a ceremony at Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi's office that she will continue to campaign for the education of girls and asked Pakistanis to be united on issues like providing better health care and education. She said she remembered having to leave Pakistan for treatment after she was attacked. Covering her tear-filled eyes with her hands, Yousafzai said it was hard to wait for more than five years to return home. "It is now actually happening and I am here," she said.

Abbasi praised Yousafzai for her sacrifices and role in the promotion of girls' education. He said he was happy to welcome her home, where he said terrorism has been eliminated.

Since her attack and recovery, Yousafzai has led the "Malala Fund," which she said has invested $6 million in schools and to provide books and uniforms for schoolchildren. "For the betterment of Pakistan, it is necessary to educate girls and empower women," she said.

Earlier, tight security greeted the now-20-year-old university student upon her arrival at Pakistan's Benazir Bhutto International Airport. Local television showed her with her p

arents in the lounge at the airport before leaving in a convoy of nearly 15 vehicles, many of them occupied by heavily armed police. Her return had been shrouded in secrecy and she was not likely to travel to her hometown of Mingora in the Swat valley, where the shooting occurred.