PESHAWAR: The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government claims there has been no stoppage or ban of the launch of Malala Yousafzai's book at a university in Peshawar, and that it was “only an issue of venue.”
Organisers and officials said the launch ceremony for the education activist’s memoir “I am Malala” at the Area Study Centre of Peshawar University was cancelled after pressure from the provincial government.
News of the reported cancellation of the ceremony baffled Imran Khan, the chief of the Pakistan Tehrik-i-Insaf (PTI) which heads the provincial government.
“I am at a complete loss to understand why Malala's book launch in Peshawar was stopped. PTI stands 4 freedom of expression & debate,” he tweeted.
Shireen Mazari, the vice president of the PTI, said Tuesday in a message on social media website Twitter: “Shah Farman Info Min KP clarified that there has been no ban or stoppage of launch of Malala's bk in Peshawar. It was only an issue of venue.”
Provincial information minister Shah Farman confirmed the administration had halted the ceremony.
“It is true that we stopped them and there were many reasons for that,” said Farman.
He said the venue was “not suitable” for the launch and accused organisers of using the event as a way to get money from the United States. “It was just to get more US funding,” Farman said.
He said that the politically-affiliated Bacha Khan Foundation could have held the ceremony at the Awami National Party (ANP) headquarters, the Bacha Khan Markaz, at any hotel or anywhere they wanted to.
The “government is ready to support them but using educational institutions for political gains would disrupt the educational environment for the students,” he said.
He said that the KP government encourages healthy debate and discussions but this book is the personal writing of Malala Yousafzai and had nothing to with educational activities of the university and was being “used for political mileage.”
Khadim Hussain, the head of the Bacha Khan Education trust which was supporting the launch ceremony, said the pressure to cancel the event was a sop to militants.
“They stopped us to please Taliban, we will soon announce another date for the book launching,” Hussain told news agency AFP.
A senior police official said allowing the ceremony to go ahead would have meant attracting Taliban attacks in future.
“Everyone knows that Taliban are against Malala, so we do not want to open another front for ourselves,” the official said, requesting anonymity.