Malala Dad: My Daughter Will Rise Again

The schoolgirl shot in the head by the Taliban in Pakistan will "rise again", her father has said.

Fifteen-year-old Malala Yusufzai was reunited with her father Ziauddin, mother Toorpekai and two brothers at Birmingham's Queen Elizabeth Hospital, where she is being treated.

The family flew in from Islamabad on Thursday night.

Malala was shot because she had campaigned for girls' education in Pakistan.

At a news conference, Mr Yusufzai described the shooting as a pivotal moment for the country. "When she fell, Pakistan stood. This is a turning point," he said.

"I'm thankful to all the people all over the world. They condemned the attack and prayed for my daughter. 

"She will rise again, she will stand again."

Mr Yusufzai said Malala was walking, talking, eating and smiling - and that all signs of infection were gone. He added that she would be having hearing and sight tests later.

He said: "I am thankful that you are very much concerned about my daughter's health. You have supported the cause for which she stands, the cause of peace and education."

He said Malala had just done a second mid-term exam and was on her way home in a school van in the Swat Valley on October 9 when two men stopped the vehicle at pistol point and asked which child was Malala, before one opened fire.

Mr Yusufzai, who was speaking with his 12-year-old son Kushal Khan sitting beside him, said Malala had received good wishes from all over the world.

"She is a daughter of everybody, a sister of everybody," he said.

When asked how he felt when he and his family saw Malala on Thursday night, he said: "I love her and last night when we met her there were tears in our eyes out of happiness."

Mr Yusufzai told reporters that he was thankful to doctors for the "excellent" and "world class" care Malala - who is now expected to make a full recovery - had received in Birmingham.

He was visibly moved as he described how he was told to prepare for Malala's funeral.

"I'm thankful to God," he said.

"I found angels on my side all around me ... she got the right treatment, at the right place, at the right time.

"In Pakistan for the first time we saw that all political parties, the government, children, women, elders, they were crying and praying to God. Christians, Sikhs, Hindus, indifferent of caste, colour or creed, they prayed for my daughter."

It comes after police in Pakistan named the prime suspect in connection with the shooting as 23-year-old Atta Ullah Khan, a chemistry student from the Swat district.

The hospital's Medical Director Dave Rosser said both Malala's long and short-term memory appeared to be intact - and that specialists do not believe there is any significant brain damage.

Describing the mood on Malala's ward, he said: "I think everyone is very pleased. Her father is a remarkable man, she is a remarkable young lady and I think everybody involved is pleased to help."

He said her skull would need to be reconstructed over the coming weeks but that her long-term prognosis was "excellent".

"There's no reason to think she won't make near to a full recovery," he said.

Dr Rosser said she would remain in hospital following the surgery for "a couple of months at most".

He added that Malala had been eating hospital food -and had also enjoyed a halal takeaway.