'When she fell, Pakistan stood': Taliban victim Malala Yousufzai's family arrive in UK The attempted murder of a Pakistani schoolgirl by the Taliban has been a "turning point" for the country which has united against the shocking shooting, according to her father who today visited the NHS hospital where she is being treated. Malala, 15, was shot down while travelling home from school with two classmates in the Swat Valley in north-west Pakistan - an area once ruled by the Taliban. The teenager has been an outspoken public campaigner about girls' education - something which the Taliban are vehemently against. Ziauddin Yusufzai, his wife and two sons were reunited with Malala, who is being treated at Birmingham's Queen Elizabeth Hospital, after flying in from Islamabad on Thursday night. Mr Yusufzai said that his daughter would "rise again" despite being shot in the head at point-blank range by a Taliban gunman on her school bus on 9 October. The family reunion came as doctors treating the teenager said they expected her to make a full recovery despite significant damage to her skull and jaw which require further surgery. At a news conference Mr Yusufzai, sitting beside Malala's younger brother, Kushal Khan, 12, described the shooting as a pivotal moment for the country. When she fell, Pakistan stood. This is a turning point," he said. 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. They condemned the attack and prayed for my daughter... She will rise again, she will stand again. His message of hope comes after police in Pakistan named the prime suspect in connection with the shooting as Atta Ullah Khan, 23, a chemistry student from the Swat district. Malala had just done a second mid-term exam and was on her way home in the Swat Valley when two men stopped the vehicle at gun point and asked which child was Malala, before one opened fire. Dr David Rosser, who is treating the teenager in Birmingham, said Malala was now walking with very little help, eating well and talking, and both her short and long term memory seemed intact. Specialists are increasingly confident that her brain is relatively unscathed despite the bullet entering just above the back of her left eye. It travelled down through the side of her jaw, damaging her skull and jaw joint on the left hand side, went through her neck before lodging in the tissue above the shoulder blade. Dr Rosser said her skull would need reconstructive surgery over the coming weeks but that her long-term prognosis was "excellent." "She's very tired but she managed a big smile for her mum and dad and her brothers...There's no reason to think she won't make near to a full recovery," he said. Mr Yusufzai fought back tears as he described how he was told to prepare for Malala's funeral after the shooting. "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. He added: "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.