Pakistan private school association holds 'I am not Malala' day after Nobel laureate returns

A private schools' association that claims to represent a combined 20 million students in Pakistan held "I am not Malala Day" across schools on Wednesday in response to Malala Yousafzai's controversial views on Islam and marriage, a day after the Nobel laureate landed in her home country after more than four years.

Yousafzai arrived in Pakistan on Tuesday to inspect regions hit by the cataclysmic floods and meet flood-hit victims.

More than 1,700 people have been killed, 33 million displaced and a third of the country submerged under water in the worst floods to hit Pakistan, which brought about unprecedented rains since mid-June.

"I am not Malala Day" is an event named in reference to Yousafzai's autobiography titled "I am Malala," in which private schools in Pakistan hold lectures and seminars to expose her "western agenda."

The All Pakistan Private Schools Federation (APPSF), an organisation that claims to represent a combined 20 million students in Pakistan, also showed a documentary film titled "I am not Malala-II".

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“In this documentary, Malala’s acts of attacking the institution of marriage and family structure by advocating that people should live in sin, has been highlighted,” Kashif Mirza, president of All Pakistan Private Schools Federation (APPSF) told PTI.

In November 2021, Yousafzai married Asser Malik at a private ceremony in Birmingham.

Through lectures and seminars, the APPSF has educated 26 million students through its 1.5 million teachers across 200,000 schools regarding Malala’s controversial views on marriage, Mirza noted.

In response to Yousafzai declaring the Pakistan Army as ‘militant’ in her book, Mirza said:“October 12 is also observed as a black day and all teachers of the private schools associated with the federation wear black armbands condemning Malala for her controversial views about Islamic practices."

Yousafzai, 25, last visited Pakistan in March 2018.

On Wednesday, she visited flood-affected district of Dadu, in Sindh province.

The timing of her return to Pakistan coincides with rise in terror incidents in her hometown in Swat Valley.

On Monday, unknown miscreants opened fire at a school van taking school students to Gulibagh area in the Swat Valley, which killed the driver and injured two students.

The latest attack has brought residents to streets, who are demanding justice to the victims and an end to the unrelenting wave of terror attacks in the restive region.

Overall, this is her second visit to Pakistan since she survived a Taliban attack in Swat Valley in October 2012, following which she was flown to a specialised hospital in Birmingham in the UK.

After her recovery, Yousafzai announced that she would launch a movement for the promotion of girls’ education.

In December 2014, Yousafzai aged 17, became the youngest to become the Nobel Prize laureate.