Malala Yousafzai's father appointed to role at Pakistani consulate in UK

Father of teenage campaigner shot by Taliban to become education attache in Birmingham while his daughter recovers
Malala Yousafzai in hospital in Birmingham
Malala Yousafzai in hospital in Birmingham in November. Her father is now attached to the Pakistani consulate in the city. Photograph: Queen Elizabeth Hospital/PA

The father of a 15-year-old Pakistani girl shot in the head by the Taliban has been given a diplomatic job in the UK, according to reports.

Malala Yousafzai's father, Ziauddin Yousafzai, has been appointed as Pakistan's education attache at the consulate in Birmingham, according to sources.

The job is believed to be for up to three years.

Malala was targeted by the Taliban in Pakistan for her work campaigning for women's rights and freedom of access to education in the country.

In October last year she was shot in the head in an assassination attempt as she sat on a school bus.

She was taken to hospital in Pakistan and later flown to Britain for specialist treatment at Birmingham's Queen Elizabeth hospital.

Malala, from the town of Mingora in the Swat district of Pakistan, was hit just above her left eye by a bullet that travelled along her jaw and grazed the edge of her brain.

While recovering in hospital in the UK in October, she was visited by Pakistan's president, Asif Ali Zardari.

In November, her father issued a statement thanking well-wishers for their support and the gifts they had sent his daughter, who is recovering in hospital.


"We deeply feel the heart-touching good wishes of the people across the world of all castes, colour and creed.


He described the decision to fly his daughter to hospital in Britain as a "miracle" and vowed that she would "rise again."

The cost of Malala's ongoing medical care is being met by the Pakistan government, while the United Arab Emirates provided the air ambulance which transported her to the UK.

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