Authorities stop Malala’s book launch at Peshawar University

A ceremony to launch teenage rights activist Malala Yousufzai’s book at a Pakistan university has been scrapped on the Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa government’s intervention on the grounds that it could not provide security for the event. The book, I am Malala, was to be launched on Tuesday at the University of Peshawar. The Bacha Khan Education Foundation (BKEF), Strengthening Participatory Organisation (SPO) and Area Study Centre had planned the ceremony. ‘It (cancellation of the launch) 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 said.