Reporters Without Borders regrets that the launch of 16-year-old blogger Malala Yousafzai’s memoir “I am Malala” at Peshawar University’s Area Study Centre in northwestern Pakistan on 28 January was cancelled as a result of pressure from local officials, who cited security reasons.

“We deplore this politically-motivated manoeuvre, which violated freedom of information,” said Benjamin Ismaïl, the head of the Reporters Without Borders Asia-Pacific Desk.

“Claiming an inability to protect the book launch in order to prevent it taking place was totally specious. The provincial government’s opinion of this book should be of no consequence and should certainly not result in any form of censorship. We hope the rescheduled event goes ahead without interference on 5 February.”

The organizers were forced to cancel the book launch after the police told them that they were unable to provide security for the event.

Khadim Hussain, one of the organizers, said two members of the government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province (of which Peshawar is the capital) – information minister Shah Farman and local government minister Inayatur Rehman ¬– intervened personally to prevent it going ahead.

On the day scheduled for the Malala book launch, the government said it did not oppose the event but rather the university’s use by the organizers “for political ends.”

The book’s complete title is: “I am Malala: the story of the girl who stood up for education and was shot by the Taliban.” Its author, who has written a blog on the BBC Urdu website since 2009, has lived in Britain with her family since the October 2012 shooting.

Still threatened by the Taliban in Pakistan, Yousafzai had not been due to attend the launch, which was organized by the Bacha Khan Education Trust, an NGO called Strengthening Participatory Organization and the university’s Area Study Centre.

Pakistan is ranked 159th out of 179 countries in the 2013 Reporters Without Borders press freedom index.

Reporters Without Border

PESHAWAR: A ceremony to launch Malala Yousufzai’s book ‘I am Malala’ scheduled at the University of Peshawar on Tuesday was stopped by the university after intervention by the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government.

The Bacha Khan Education Foundation (BKEF), Strengthening Participatory Organisation (SPO) and Area Study Centre had planned the ceremony.

“It is against the spirit of freedom of expression and promotion of education because holding a ceremony in honour of Malala Yousufzai means to scale up awareness about child rights,” Dr Khadim Hussain, director of the BKEF, told Dawn.

He said they had been informed by police late on Monday that they could not provide security for the programme.

“I was stopped by many people, including ministers, the vice-chancellor, registrar and police, from holding the programme,” Area Study Centre’s director Sarfraz Khan said.

Sources in the centre said the director was first contacted by provincial Local Government Minister Inayatullah Khan, who belongs to Jamaat-i-Islami, and then by Information Minister Shah Farman of the Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf (PTI), asking him to stop the book launch. But the director made it clear to them that the ASC was an autonomous centre which did not come under the jurisdiction of the provincial government. After that he was approached by the vice-chancellor and registrar and both of them called for stopping the ceremony.

Finally, the head of the Campus Peace Corps, which comes under the provincial police chief, categorically told the director that they were not in a position to provide security, the sources said. When contacted, LG Minister Inayatullah Khan said: “I never spoke to anyone regarding the book launching programme.” Shah Farman was not available for comments.

DAWN