Re: Thrill for Malala haters : An anti-malala day day observed!
Dont even think malala haters in Pakistan will go unnoticed:
Malala Yousafzai, Nobel Laureate, Is Assailed by Schools Group in Pakistan
By SALMAN MASOODNOV. 10, 2014
ISLAMABAD, Pakistan — A network of private schools on Monday unleashed a scathing public attack on Malala Yousafzai, the teenage Nobel laureate, in the most concerted assault yet on her reputation in her home country.
The All Pakistan Private Schools Federation, which claims to represent 150,000 schools across Pakistan, declared that Monday would be “I am not Malala” day and urged the government to ban her memoir, “I Am Malala,” because it offended Islam and the “ideology of Pakistan.”
“We are all for education and women’s empowerment,” said Mirza Kashif Ali, the organization’s president. “But the West has created this persona who is against the Constitution and Islamic ideology of Pakistan.”
Abroad, Ms. Yousafzai is revered for continuing her impassioned advocacy of education and girls’ rights after being shot in the head by a Taliban gunman in 2012. She is currently studying in Britain, where she lives with her exiled family.
But in her homeland, Ms. Yousafzai divides opinion. While some Pakistanis have lionized her as a national hero, others portray her as a Western stooge who has maligned both country and religion.
Conservatives frequently cite from her memoir, written with Christina Lamb, a journalist, to bolster their case. During the news conference on Monday, Mr. Ali accused Ms. Yousafzai of defending the author Salman Rushdie, whose novel “The Satanic Verses” remains banned in Pakistan, in her book.
“It is clear that Malala has a nexus with Salman Rushdie and is aligned with his club,” he said.
PLAY VIDEO|7:51
Malala: Why I Love Islam
Malala: Why I Love Islam
Part 11: Malala explains what people don’t understand about Islam, and reflects on her impressions of the many world leaders she’s met.
Publish DateOctober 2, 2014.
In fact, the book notes only that Ms. Yousafzai’s father saw “The Satanic Verses” as “offensive to Islam,” and that he said that Muslims should first read the novel, then respond.
“Is Islam such a weak religion that it cannot tolerate a book written against it? Not my Islam!” the book quotes her father as saying.
Yet tolerance is in short supply in Pakistan these days, and accusations of disrespecting Islam can be fatal. Last week, an enraged mobkilled a Christian couple over accusations of blasphemy and incinerated their bodies. Dawn, a major English-language newspaper in Pakistan, reported that the wife had been pregnant.
An antiterrorism court on Monday remanded four people into custody over the killings.
The denunciation of Ms. Yousafzai by the schools network, which is based in Lahore, triggered an angry backlash on social media. The group represents private schools from mostly poor and middle class areas, and not the country’s elite schools.
Declan Walsh contributed from London.
