[00:00.10]From VOA Learning English,
[00:03.08]this is the Education Report.
[00:06.36]Private schools in Pakistan
[00:08.93]have banned a book written by Malala Yousafzai
[00:12.45]from school libraries.
[00:14.46]The school's officials say parts of the book dishonour Islam,
[00:20.32]and they accuse the young education activist
[00:23.99]of acting as what they call a "propaganda tool of the West"
[00:29.70]to insult her country of birth.
[00:32.71]Malala Yousafzai shared her memories in the book "I Am Malala".
[00:39.70]"I Am Malala" is one of the best selling books in the world.
[00:44.87]But some groups in Pakistan have criticized it.
[00:49.13]Private schools in the country have decided
[00:52.28]to prevent their students from reading it.
[00:55.16]Adeeb Javedani is president of the All
[00:59.38]Pakistan Private Schools Management Association,
[01:04.36]the group represents more than 40,000 institutions
[01:08.99]across the country.
[01:10.59]He defends the decision to ban the book.
[01:14.61]Mr Javedani says it is unimaginable
[01:18.52]that a girl of Malala's age could write parts of the book.
[01:23.66]For example, he says she wrote
[01:27.59]that Ahmadis, a religious minority,
[01:30.50]have been declared infidels - unbelievers in Pakistan.
[01:35.58]Mr Javedani says these is no such movement taking place.
[01:41.40]The Ahmadi community was declared non-Muslims in the early 1970s.
[01:48.40]The book notes that Ahmadis say they are Muslims,
[01:52.43]but Pakistani laws prevent them from publicly stating that.
[01:57.59]Mr Javedani says someone representing Europe,
[02:02.43]a common term for the west,
[02:05.14]had written the book under the name of Malala Yousafzai.
[02:09.28]He also says Pakistani education officials
[02:14.32]have told his group that they do not plan
[02:18.20]to use the book in government and private schools.
[02:22.35]Professor Pervez Hoodbhoy works
[02:26.18]at Quaid-e-Azam University in Islamabad.
[02:29.95]He and other rights activists defend Malala.
[02:34.61]They say pro-Taliban elements within the society
[02:39.20]are purposely misrepresenting the book.
[02:42.74]"She does not in her book say that Ahmadis are Muslims.
[02:47.47]She simply says that these are people who are being persecuted,
[02:51.58]and that is a fact of life.
[02:53.34]Nobody can dispute that Ahmadis today
[02:56.66]are the most persecuted of minorities,
[03:00.45]all of which are persecuted in Pakistan today," said Hoodboy. "
[03:03.62]The Professor also says that Malala is being wrongly
[03:08.40]accused of defending British writer Salman Rushdie,
[03:12.80]his book "The Satanic Verses" made many Muslims angry.
[03:18.12]Professor Hoodbhoy says the fact that Salman Rushdie
[03:23.25]is an unwelcome man in Pakistan shows the extreme lack of tolerance
[03:28.08]that has come to characterize Pakistani culture.
[03:32.23]Malala campaigned against Taliban attempts
[03:35.98]to blow up schools for girls in 2009
[03:39.70]in the Swat district which she was born.
[03:42.60]A military offensive later chased the Islamists from the district.
[03:48.53]And that's the VOA Learning English Education Report.
[03:53.34]I'm June Simms.