Malala's parents on way for UK hospital visit

 It's likely to be an emotional reunion. The parents of Malala Yousufzai, the Pakistani schoolgirl activist shot by the Taliban, are expected to see their daughter for the first time Thursday since she regained consciousness in a British hospital last week.

The 15-year-old, who has become an international symbol of courage after being targeted for demanding education for girls, is being treated for a shot to the head in Birmingham, England.

While hospital staff last week said they were trying to arrange for her listen to her father on the phone, this will be his first chance to be by her bedside since she was flown from Pakistan 10 days ago, her condition deteriorating.

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Both parents are on a plane that left Pakistan Thursday morning, said a government official, Noor Malik. The flight is expected to arrive in Birmingham Thursday afternoon.

For Malala, who has been unable to speak because a tube has been inserted into her trachea to protect her airway, swollen after her gunshot injury, the presence of family members will surely be a comfort.

Her father, Ziauddin Yousufzai, has been a central influence in her young life, having operated one of the few schools that defied the Taliban in the Swat Valley by keeping its doors open to girls.

"I am leaving this country with a heavy heart and in extraordinary circumstances because the whole country knows that it is essential that I be with my daughter during her recovery," he told Pakistani network PTV before leaving Islamabad, in his first public remarks since the October 9 shooting.