Malala Yousafzai to be reunited with friends at Edinburgh event

Malala had life-saving surgery in the UK

A Pakistani teenager who was shot in the head by the Taliban is to be reunited with two friends who were injured in the attack.

Malala Yousafzai, 16, was targeted last October as a result of her campaigning for better rights for girls.

She is due to address the first public meeting of the Global Citizenship Commission in Edinburgh on Saturday.

The teenager will also meet Kainat Riaz and Shazia Ramzan for the first time since the attack.

They will be reunited during the event at Edinburgh University's McEwan Hall.

Guest of honour

The Global Citizenship Commission is a body of world leaders representing politics, religious institutions, law and philanthropy.

Malala is guest of honour at the meeting of the commission, a joint initiative between former prime minister Gordon Brown, New York University and Carnegie UK Trust.

It will discuss global developments since the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was passed in 1948.

Mr Brown, UN special envoy for global education and MP for Kirkcaldy and Cowdenbeath, said: "We all know of Malala's incredible courage, strength and determination.

"I'm so pleased that she will be reunited with Shazia and Kainat, two young women equally determined that every girl and boy should enjoy the most basic of human rights - a secure, safe place at school."

'Decent schooling'

The three teenagers will later join Mr Brown at the topping out ceremony of a new school in Burntisland, Fife.

He said: "I'm delighted that the people of Fife will meet these three courageous girls at first hand and, as global campaigners for the right of every child to decent schooling, their attendance marks an exciting new chapter for Burntisland Primary School."

Voted one of the world's 100 most influential people, Malala began blogging for the BBC in 2009 about her life in Pakistan's Swat Valley region and her desire to attend school safely and freely.

Her increasing profile in the global media and her campaigns for universal education and women's rights brought her to the attention of the Taliban members, who attempted to assassinate her in an attack on her school bus.

Since the attack she has addressed the United Nations and been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize.