Malala Yousafzai – Pakistan Freedom of Expression Monitor

Pakistani schools network observes anti-Malala day

Web Desk — Tue, 11 Nov 2014 07:44:52 +0000

ISLAMABAD: An association of Pakistani schools held an “I am not Malala” day on Monday, condemning young Nobel peace laureate Malala Yousafzai for what it called her support for controversial novelist Salman Rushdie.

Education campaigner Malala was shot in the head by the Taliban in October 2012 but recovered and went on to win this year’s Nobel peace prize.

The 17-year-old has been hailed around the world for standing up for girls’ rights to education, but the response to her in Pakistan has not been universally positive, with some seeing her as a “Western agent” on a mission to shame her country.

The All Pakistan Private Schools Federation last year barred its members from buying Malala’s memoir “I am Malala” because of what the group said was its “anti-Pakistan and anti-Islam content.“

Read more: Pakistani private schools ban Malala’s book

It said the book, written with British journalist Christina Lamb, was too sympathetic to British novelist Salman Rushdie.

Rushdie in 1989 became the target of an Iranian fatwa, or religious edict, calling for his murder for allegedly blaspheming Islam and the Prophet Mohammed (PBUH) in his book The Satanic Verses.

Mirza Kashif Ali, the president of the schools’ federation, said in a statement it was “clear that Malala has nexus with Salman Rushdie and Taslima Nasrin, and also has alignment with Salman Rushdie’s ideological club”.

“We severely condemned the chapter of the book in which Salman Rushdie’s book has been mentioned as freedom of expression by Malala while referring to father’s views,” Ali said.

He said walks, seminars and press conferences were held to highlight the “I am not Malala” day.

Bangladeshi author Nasrin was forced to flee her homeland in 1994 after radical Muslims accused her of blasphemy over her novel “Lajja” (Shame), in which a Hindu family is persecuted by Muslims.

Blasphemy is a sensitive issue in Pakistan also, where it can carry the death penalty.

Malala’s book describes her life under the Taliban’s brutal rule in northwest Pakistan’s Swat valley in the mid-2000s, hints at her ambition to enter Pakistani politics and even describes her father’s brief flirtation with Islamic fundamentalism as a youngster.

The book describes public floggings by the Taliban, their ban on television, dancing and music, and the family’s decision to flee Swat along with nearly one million others in 2009 amid heavy fighting between the militants and Pakistani troops.

Malala, who lives in Britain where she went for treatment after being shot, was jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in October alongside India’s 60-year-old Kailash Satyarthi for their championing of children’s rights.

DAWN

Malala book still not get allow to launch in KP

Web Desk — Sun, 20 Apr 2014 12:55:51 +0000

PESHAWAR: The Taliban militants’ fear continues to hinder the launch of girls education campaigner Malala book in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

The government had stopped the launch of ‘I am Malala’ the Malala book<.b> in Peshawar two and half months ago in the wake of the outlawed Tehreek-i-Taliban Pakistan’s threat of attacks against bookshops selling the book.

“We’d reached the relevant people in Pakistan Tehreek-i-Insaf government for permission to launch the book, but to no avail. PTI chairman Imran Khan had tweeted he was at a loss to understand why the book’s launch had been stopped in Peshawar. However, the PTI government in the province isn’t ready to allow us to launch the book,” Khadim Hussain, director at the Bacha Khan Education Foundation, told Dawn on Tuesday.

The Malala book was slated to be launched at the Area Study Centre of the University of Peshawar in January but stopped.

“We have been in contact with University of Peshawar, Abdul Wali Khan University and private universities to hold the launching ceremony on their premises. However, their response is painfully slow,” he said.

According to him, Malala is unfearing.

“We need to arrange the launch and benefit from Malala’s worldwide recognition as an education and human rights campaigner. The people are getting Malala scholarships, so why our girls and boys should not get their right,” he said.

Malala shot by the Taliban in her hometown, Swat, in October 2012 had challenged militants and therefore, became a symbol of courage for young generation.

Mr Hussain said Malala needed respect and acknowledgement at home but the provincial government was opposed to her Malala book launch fearing the Taliban’s attacks.

“We are asking the government and universities to allow us to launch the book on their campuses,” he said.

Sources at University of Peshawar say the government is not allowing the event to take place.

They quoted a senior leader of the provincial government as saying first glorifying Malala was not allowed in universities, which were a place of learning, and second, Malala was not ‘our heroine’ after all.

The Area Study Centre of the university was slated to host the event.

Since then, the organisers’ efforts to hold the event on campus have failed.

The sources said nobody was responding to the requests to hold the function as both bureaucrats and varsities’ vice chancellors didn’t want to anger the provincial government by doing so.

Mr Hussain said he was awaiting government’s response to several requests for hosting the launch.

“We will hold the launching ceremony at all costs,” he said.

A provincial minister, who wished not to be named, said the government couldn’t put the universities at risk by allowing the launch of Malala book.

“Militants can target universities if we continue to showcase their enemy, Malala, as a champion. Therefore, we don’t want to create such a situation,” he said.

The minister said the event should take place in places other than universities.

He said the launch of Malala book was ‘purely a political issue’ and should be tackled as such.

“We know the Taliban are not happy with her (Malala’s) popularity, so they could target her supporters,” he said.

The minister said it had been conveyed to the organisers that a university wasn’t a proper place for such events and that they should hold events, which could benefit students.

“The organisers shouldn’t draw political gains at the cost of education,” he said.

Dawn

I am Malala

PPF Editor — Thu, 06 Feb 2014 12:47:15 +0000

THE launching of Malala’s book ‘I am Malala’ by Peshawar University was stopped by the provincial government. It is being criticised by many, including Imran Khan, on the ground that it amounts to curbing freedom of expression.

Launching of a book is simply a ceremony. Disallowing it does not mean “curbing the freedom of expression”. Banning the publication and sale/purchase of a book does mean that.

When I first saw Malala speaking on TV, I formed the opinion that she was an intelligent girl. When she was shot and was in a critical condition, I, like many other Pakistanis, prayed for her survival and with the will of Allah she did survive. Then there was a shower of awards on her regarding education and acclamations, which she probably did not deserve, with what motives and objectives Malala should know better.

But by her stance and statements regarding education in Pakistan, she is spreading Pakistan’s image as a country where the government and people are against giving education to children, especially to girls. This is incorrect except for some villages where tribal chiefs have enslaved the people. Otherwise both boys and girls almost everywhere go to school.

Unfortunately, our government is not doing anything to correct the image.

Mohammad Rafi

Karachi

DAWN

Malala’s book launch

PPF Editor — Mon, 03 Feb 2014 11:23:40 +0000

WHAT a shame that the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government has stopped the ceremony to launch Malala Yousufzai’s book, I am Malala, at the Peshawar University.

Pity the nation that keeps on harping on the supremacy of the constitution but cannot provide security to even a premier university of the country. What signals do we send to the world when we invite international teams to come and play in Pakistan, on the one hand, and stop a book launch for fear of security, on the other hand?

Farooq Dawood
Karachi

DAWN

Malala Yousafzai book launch censored in Peshawar

PPF Editor — Thu, 30 Jan 2014 11:59:26 +0000

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

Politicking over pages of child activist’s memoir

PPF Editor — Wed, 29 Jan 2014 11:25:07 +0000

By: Hidayat Khan

PESHAWAR: At 10am on Tuesday morning, Imran Khan tweeted that he was at a loss to understand why Malala’s Peshawar book launch was stopped. He said his party, the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) believed in freedom of speech and debate, not censorship of ideas.

It was supposed to be a big day for Malala Yousafzai, Dr Sarfaraz Khan and Peshawar University’s area study centre.

They were going to launch her autobiography, I Am Malala, in her home province and instead, Dr Khan spent most of the morning in the hospital dealing with high blood pressure.

Khan, who is the director of the centre, was at the hospital due to stress from the night before when he received phone calls allegedly from two provincial ministers – one from the PTI and the other from its coalition partner, to not proceed with the launch.

He had still planned to go ahead as planned but when the police called and said that they would not be able to provide security, Dr Khan had no option but to cancel.

Initially, I Am Malala, was going to be launched in Peshawar at 10am on Tuesday by the Bacha Khan Trust Educational Foundation in collaboration with the Strengthening Participatory Organisation at the University of Peshawar.

While speaking to The Express Tribune via email, Malala’s father, Ziauddin Yousafzai said that even Faiz Ahmed Faiz and Rahmat Shah Sail’s work had been banned in the country before. “I feel as if we are being dragged back to the caves,” the email read.

The vice chancellor of the university, Dr Rasul Jan, said that he should have been informed of details regarding the event but was not in this case.

He added that due to the current situation in the province, the administration avoids mass gathering on campus. “The launch of this book, however, is of great importance and could have helped create awareness among the students,” he said. “If they [the organisers] had given us prior notice, we would have arranged for maximum security and other details.”

The official version

Provincial Minister for Information Shah Farman issued a handout claiming that the university was not a proper venue for the book launch. “I Am Malala has nothing to do with the curriculum or extra-curricular activities,” it read. “The book should be launched at a proper venue. It is her autobiography and has nothing to do with education.”

The home and tribal affairs department added that the administration had not imposed a ban on the book and the provincial government was a firm believer in the right of speech and information for its citizens.

Khadim Hussain, the director of the Bacha Khan foundation, said that they had been planning this with the university’s area study department for the last 10 days. He added that the event had been cancelled due to direct intervention from the provincial government.

According to Hussain, Farman and Jamaat-e-Islami MPA Inayatullah had called Dr Khan and told him to cancel the event. He said that when Dr Khan refused to do as they said on the pretext that the university came under the federal and not provincial government, the police superintendent called up saying he could not give them security cover.

Express Tribune

Malala interrupted and the Khan surprised

PPF Editor — Wed, 29 Jan 2014 11:25:03 +0000

Malala interrupted and the Khan surprised Mohammed Tahseen, whom I fondly call Paa Taseen, is known to me since childhood despite us never having lived in the same city. Fundamentally, that is because of a shared political heritage between our families.

He is a seasoned community development practitioner, peace campaigner and human rights activist. He is a few years senior to me and, therefore, his ideals about the country and society in which we live have been shattered for a few more years. He has been betrayed as a citizen of Pakistan for a little longer than people my age. However, somehow he has been able to retain that hope for goodness in all and, consequently, continues to get surprised when people act differently.

The latest is his shock and anger over the government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s decision to not allow the launch and discussion on the book ‘I am Malala’ in the University of Peshawar. In his email to friends, he is also unhappy with the way Prof Sarfaraz Khan, a noted academic was pressurised – almost coerced – by the sitting ministers (he mentions Sirajul Haq and Shah Farman), to call off the event scheduled for January 28. When Prof Khan refused to budge, the government intervened and took administrative measures through the vice chancellor and registrar of the university to stop the event.

Since I have also known some of the organisers in Peshawar, what doesn’t surprise me is the resolve of Prof Sarfaraz Khan and his fellow academics and students to hold the book launch with support from the local civil society. Their struggle for an independent academia and a free media is spread over decades. Likewise, I am not surprised at all with the actions of the right-wing government in power in the province and its ministers – who are not just bigots of varying degrees but offer us a blend of hypocrisy and bigotry. What surprises me is Paa Taseen still being surprised by the PTI and the Jamaat-e-Islami.

Let us understand this blend of hypocrisy and bigotry. To be fair, it is not just the PTI and the JI, but some significant sections of our society that suffer from twisted thinking. Irrational and emotional, unable to connect or correlate happenings and events, craving to enjoy the luxuries of the modern world while clamouring to create a medieval theocracy – we are becoming distinct for all the wrong reasons. It is our affluent and not-so-affluent middleclass that is the most confused.

I have a number of teenaged nephews and nieces. I had a chance to speak to two of them, one in Karachi and one in Rawalpindi, some weeks ago. When Malala, the simple schoolgirl from Swat who championed the right of girls to be educated in the face of their schools being blown up by the Taliban, was hit and instantly became a hero on national media, like others their age these teenagers from our family started wearing pins on their chests saying, ‘I am Malala’.

While she became a hero for the rest of the world, our bigots – playing upon the cultivated insecurity and paranoia that isolates us from the rest of the world – began to churn out venom against the poor girl. Blaming the victim is the favourite pastime for our right-wing opinion makers. When Benazir was assassinated they questioned her coming out of the sunroof of her car to wave at her supporters. Denouncing our heroes gives our bigots some kind of perverse psychological pleasure – from Dr Abdus Salam to Malala Yousafzai (when her book appeared, mudslinging increased further and she and her family were branded agents of western imperialism).

So when I asked the two young people in the family if they had read her book, both of them had interesting answers. The one in Karachi who is younger had read the book but said, “You see Abba, I wonder what she has really done for Pakistan? My teacher and some friends also say that.” The one in Rawalpindi had not read the book. But he said, “If Malala is such a good girl as we were told earlier, why she is being celebrated in western countries? She must be doing something against Islam and Pakistan.”

Now that’s interesting – and somewhat reflective of how we think and how we have made our children think. This is what you get if history is either not taught or selectively taught or its distorted versions are taught in schools. We also tend to forget that it was the Pakistan Army helicopter that brought Malala from Swat to Rawalpindi for emergency treatment.

And, no surprises there, both these teenagers see Imran Khan as the messiah for Pakistan. I didn’t argue much with them. I simply reminded them of their leader’s statement when Malala was shortlisted for the Nobel Peace Prize and didn’t receive it. He said that he had wanted her to win the prize.

The PTI represents the confusion of the young and old in parts of Punjab, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Karachi about faith, identity and our relationship with the rest of the world. It also represents the hypocrisy of the landed and business elite who saw that this knight in shining armour had a chance to win and so jumped on the bandwagon after his successful Lahore rally in October 2011. It also shows an inherent desire of the leader himself to become the ruler of this country – as hastily as he can.

On Prof Sarfaraz Khan being restricted from holding an event on Malala by the PTI-JI government in Peshawar, why I am not surprised but Paa Taseen is? Because I remember Imran Khan making a statement in India condemning Salmaan Taseer’s assassination while his spokesperson, who now happens to be the leader of the opposition in the Punjab Assembly, spoke at a rally held in favour of Taseer’s assassin in Lahore. Because I am still reminded of the once principled stand taken by Imran Khan against the MQM – and then completely backtracking from pursuing these cases on the advice of his aides. Because I can recall Imran Khan wanting the then ANP government to resign for the Bannu jailbreak and then not asking his own government in the province to resign after the bigger DI Khan jailbreak.

The PTI largely maintains that extremism and sectarianism in Pakistan are an outcome of the war on terror and drone strikes in North Waziristan. Apparently, local history for them begins with the foundation of their party and international history with 9/11. As a result, the PTI has blocked Nato-Isaf supplies for some weeks now while having always stood for dialogue with the Taliban. They clarify by saying that the party has blocked supplies and that the government run by the party has nothing to do with it.

That’s like PPP activists blocking transportation from the Karachi Port while running the provincial government in Sindh. Or PML-N activists blocking trade through the Wagah-Attari border while running the Punjab government. But hang on. Interestingly, Khan has just recently said that he stands with the Pakistan Army but only if he is taken into confidence properly if an operation is to be launched against the Taliban.

It is time for Imran Khan to be surprised. As I write these lines, he has said through social media that he is surprised why the book launch was stopped by the provincial government. Just a couple of weeks ago, he was equally surprised when his provincial government coldly responded to the martyrdom of the school boy, Aitizaz Hasan, in Hangu. It is perhaps time Khan started paying heed to what his critics have been telling him for some time now.

Trying to tie a knot between a supermodel from metropolitan Lahore, who enjoys the same lifestyle as Khan, and a rugged religious warrior of Pakhtun origin, romanticised by Khan out of his love for the imaginary greatness of ancestors, will not work. He needs to bring clarity into his own thinking and in the thinking of the rank and file of his party.

The writer is a poet and author based in Islamabad. Email: harris.khalique@gmail.com

The News

Book launch thwarted

PPF Editor — Wed, 29 Jan 2014 10:29:08 +0000

IT is never advisable for governments to get into the business of banning books. And if the literature in question is written to counter the extremist narrative that is beginning to dominate, as Malala Yousafzai’s I am Malala attempts to do, then official obstructions to prevent the launch of such material can only be termed utterly appalling. As reported, the authorities in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have thwarted the launch of Malala’s book which was supposed to take place yesterday at the University of Peshawar.

The PTI-led KP government apparently got cold feet as ministers and university officials pressured the organisers to cancel the event. The police, too, said they would be unable to provide security. This sets a disturbing precedent, especially when we consider that a seat of higher learning was involved. As one of the organisers observed, “It is against the spirit of freedom of expression and promotion of education”.

But there is an even graver problem. The KP government’s buckling under pressure reflects a sense of fear that is palpable across Pakistan — the fear of ‘offending’ the militants. The state is ceding more and more ground to the extremists, allowing them to decide what is and is not okay for public consumption. Such resignation and retreat on part of the state is unacceptable.

Malala has been feted by the world for her courageous stand against extremism and activism for women’s education. She has been welcomed in world capitals and august global forums. Should we not hang our heads in shame because she cannot be appreciated in her own country and province? Let us be clear: Malala is someone the people of KP can be proud of, a symbol of the potential of the troubled province’s youth. PTI chief Imran Khan has expressed disappointment at the cancellation of the launch. He would do well to convince the KP government to reschedule the event and facilitate it so that it goes ahead without a hitch.

DAWN

Malala’s book launch issue triggers heated debate

PPF Editor — Wed, 29 Jan 2014 10:29:07 +0000

PESHAWAR: Though the decision of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government to stop the launch of Malala Yousafzai’s book shocked Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) Chairman Imran Khan, yet a minister defended the move.

After scathing criticism against PTI-led provincial government in the press and social media, Imran Khan had to intervene to do damage control. “I am at a loss to understand why Malala’s book launch stopped in Peshawar. PTI believes in freedom of speech/debate, not censorship of ideas,” the tweet said.

The two tweets were widely re-tweeted in approval and replied to by Twitter users, appreciating Imran Khan for expressing displeasure over the action of his party-led provincial government. The book launching ceremony of “I am Malala” was scheduled to be held on Tuesday at the Area Study Centre, University of Peshawar. The ceremony was jointly organised by the Area Study Centre, Bacha Khan Education Foundation and Strengthening Participatory Organisation (SPO). The provincial government pressurised the university administration and the director of Area Study Centre not to hold the event.

After the director’s resistance, the campus police refused to provide security to the gathering, which resulted in the cancellation of the book launch.

However, the official handout issued by the provincial Minister for Information Shah Farman defended the decision instead of repenting it. He justified cancelling the book launch by saying it had no relevance to the university.

“Unveiling the book at the Area Study Centre University of Peshawar was not allowed because the same book had no relevance with curricular and co-curricular activities of the students,” the minister said in the statement.

Some expressed surprise that how a book could be irrelevant to a university. “It is an interesting argument. If books have no relevance with curricular activities, then I wonder what else? asked Nauman Khan, a college teacher in the city.

The minister argued the government had not stopped the event from taking place instead the venue was not “suitable.” The government has not stopped the unveiling of the book, “I am Malala”. The real issue was of a suitable place and security for holding the ceremony,” it explained. However, the handout did not say the government had suggested an alternate venue.

He said the book was a biography of Malala Yousafzai, which has no connection with Area Study Centre and other educational institutions.

The minister added the PTI government believed in the freedom of expression, therefore, some other suitable venue should have been selected for unveiling the book, as Area Study Centre being an educational institution was not a ‘proper venue’.

The government has a focused approach to make educational institutions and other centres of excellence apolitical and therefore no one would be allowed to make political scoring in educational institutes, he concluded.

Director of Area Study Center Dr Sarfaraz challenged the assertions made by the minister. “Anything which is relevant to Afghanistan, Pakistan, war on terror, regional war is the mandate of the centre given by the Parliament,” he stated.

He said their job was to disseminate knowledge. Dr Sarfaraz wondered at the minister’s argument that the book was irrelevant to the centre and said it had organised hundreds of books launching ceremonies in the past.

Besides a number of foreign dignitaries including ambassadors, foreign ministers and even heads of state from US, UK, Hungary and other countries had addressed the students at the centre.

He denied making political point-scoring by hosting the book-launching ceremony. “We are dealing with politics in academic way,” he said and added “Tomorrow one will demand to close down the department of political science as it teaches politics,” he said.

When contacted, Khadim Hussain, a scholar and the Managing Director of the Bacha Khan Education Foundation, criticised the provincial government for not allowing the book launching.

He termed the decision a violation of all norms of decency and academic freedom. “Those having difference of opinion should come and speak as well, but this is not the way to suppress the voices with which the government doesn’t agree,” he stated.

He said Malala Yousafzai is an indigenous voice of struggle against the forces of retrogression and people have the right to know about her.

I am Malala was launched on October 9, 2013 the world over. The 276-page book carries details of Malala Yousafzai’s life in Swat valley and describes her struggle for girls’ education and her ordeal after she was critically shot in the head by Taliban in October 2012. Taliban have threatened action against the bookshops selling her book.

The News