Web Desk(National times)- Nobel laureate Malala Yousafzai, whose home region is among the northern Pakistan areas hardest hit by cloudburst-triggered floods, mourned the loss of lives and voiced solidarity with the displaced and grieving on Sunday. “My heart breaks for every community affected by the devastating floods in Pakistan, from Gilgit Baltistan to Azad Jammu and Kashmir and especially Buner, Swat, Bajaur and Shangla in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa,” Malala wrote in a message posted on X. The scenic Shangla district of Malakand Division is her hometown.
According to a KP Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) report, Shangla saw 37 deaths, Mansehra 23, Swat 22, Bajaur 21, Battagram 15, Lower Dir five and one was recorded in Abbottabad. It added that 11 houses were destroyed while 63 were partially damaged, while two schools in Swat and another in Shangla were also affected. “My deepest condolences to everyone who has lost loved ones, homes and livelihoods,” the Nobel laureate wrote in her heartfelt post. Rescuers struggled to retrieve bodies from muddy debris on Saturday after flash floods triggered by heavy monsoon rains across northern Pakistan killed at least 344 people in the past 48 hours, authorities said. The majority of deaths, 324, were reported in KP, the National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) said. Most were killed in flash floods and collapsing houses, while at least 137 others were injured. The provincial rescue agency told AFP that around 2,000 rescue workers were engaged in recovering bodies from the debris and carrying out relief operations in nine districts, where rain was still hampering efforts. Malala, a staunch advocate for girls’ education, returned to her village, Barkana in Shangla, in March 2025, marking her first visit in 13 years since surviving an assassination attempt by militants. This visit marked her first return to Shangla since surviving a shooting in 2012. She last visited Pakistan in 2018 but was unable to travel to her home village at the time. Malala was attacked by the terrorists from the Tehreek-e-Taliban Pakistan, now declared Fitna-al-Khawarij by the country’s civil and military leadership, on a school bus in Swat Valley in 2012. She was evacuated to the United Kingdom and went on to become a global advocate for girls’ education and, at the age of 17, the youngest Nobel Peace Prize winner.