Pakistan seizes school textbook copies for printing Malala’s picture as important personality

Pakistan authorities have confiscated copies of a school textbook in Punjab province for printing the picture of Nobel laureate Malala Yousufszai in the list of important personalities, apparently unhappy with the UK-based activist’s controversial views on Islam.

 

The youngest Nobel Prize laureate, Malala, who turned 24 on Monday, is known for human rights advocacy, especially the education of women and children in her native Swat Valley in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province in northwest Pakistan, where the local Tehrik-i-Taliban Pakistan had at times banned girls from attending school.

 

 

Pakistan’s private schools’ association on Monday had launched a documentary on Malala for her controversial views on Islam, marriage and her pursuit of the Western agenda. On the same day, the Punjab Curriculum and Textbook Board (PCTB) confiscated the social studies book for grade 7 published by the Oxford University Press (OUP) for printing the picture of Malala alongside that of military officer Maj Aziz Bhatti, who was killed in the 1965 war with India, in the list of important personalities.

 

 

Along with the activist, page 33 of the book included included Pakistan’s founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah, poet Allama Iqbal, educationist Sir Syed Ahmed Khan, first prime minister Liaqat Ali Khan and philanthropist Abdul Sattar Edhi in its list of important personalities. Apparently, the board has earlier denied it permission for publishing.

 

 

 

Meanwhile, the All-Pakistan Private Schools Federation has decided to launch a documentary on the Nobel prize winner to ‘expose’ her before the youth. The president of the organisation, Kashif Mirza, said, “Through this documentary film ‘I am not Malala’, we will tell 20 million students in 200,000 private schools across the country about her controversial views on Islam, marriage, pursuing of Western agenda.”

 

 

Malala Yousafzai, in the past, has been criticised by Indians as well for mouthing off platitudes regarding Kashmir following the abrogation of Article 370, where she subtly toed the Pakistani narrative on the matter. She has also been criticised for maintaining silence over the forced conversion of Hindu girls in Pakistan.

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