Post date: Oct 08, 2013 8:25:30 PM
The autobiography of Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani schoolgirl shot by the Taliban last year for demanding education for girls, hits book stalls in Pakistan attracting both scepticism and pride.
ISLAMABAD, PAKISTAN (OCTOBER 8 , 2013) (REUTERS) - Hundreds of paperback copies of "I am Malala", the autobiography of Pakistani schoolgirlMalala Yousafzai appeared in major bookshops in Pakistan on Tuesday (October 8).
Malala was shot at close range by Taliban gunmen in October last year as she left school in SwatValley in northwestern Pakistan.
The Taliban claimed responsibility for the assassination attempt on her saying she was targeted for her campaign against the Islamist Taliban efforts to deny women education.Miraculously, the teenager survived the assassination attempt.
She was treated in Pakistan before being flown to Britain, where doctors mended parts of her skull with a titanium plate.
Since then, Malala has been feted by celebrities and politicians around the Western world.
In the capital Islamabad, not too many customers showed up on the first day of the book launch, but shop assistants said they had received many requests for the book, and were hopeful it would sell well.
"The book has just arrived. For the past few days, there has been a great demand for this book because people love Malala for her stance on peace," bookshop owner Khalid Mehmood told Reuters Television.
However, in Malala's home town in the Swat Valley, many residents say they are suspicious of the fact that Malala and her two friends injured in the attack, have been singled out for British visas and awards from among hundreds of other people who are maimed or killed by terrorists in the restive region every year .
Several residents of Swat, a deeply conservative region wary of any foreign influence, said Malala's education campaign was an eyewash that had not benefited her people in any way.
"The Taliban destroyed may schools in Swat. Malala is being given so many awards, but what good is that for the people of Swat? So far, Malala has not even constructed a single school here," saidNaveed Khan, a shopkeeper in Mingora town.
"All this recognition may be good for her internationally. It may be good for her family. But we have not benefited from it. Neither has Swat gained from it in any way, nor our educational institutions," added Mohammad Ateeq, a student from Charbagh town visiting relatives in Mingora.
The Swat Valley, once a popular tourist destination less than 100 miles from Islamabad, was over-run by the Pakistan Taliban in 2007, who closed girls schools and imposed strict Islamic law.
Plans to rename a girls' schools after Malala had to be reversed last year when students protested that it would mark them out for attacks by the Taliban.
However, locals in the area say the number of girls in primary schools is on the rise - from 86,000 in 2010 to 127,000 this year, according to the local education department.
"In the last two weeks, 26,000 boys and girls have enrolled in schools in Swat. This is proof that many children want to follow in the footsteps of Malala and want to be educated like her," Saeedur Rehman, a local teacher and journalist, told Reuters Television.
And there are those who say they are proud of the achievements of a teenager who has brought honour to her hometown.
"It is certainly a matter of pride for us that Malala has added the name of Swat in the Honour Roll of the world. We should be proud of her because Malala has proved to the world that Pashtoons are not terrorists," said college student Waqas Khan.
Pakistan has 5 million children out of school, a number only surpassed by Nigeria, which has more than 10 million children out of school, according to the U.N. cultural agency UNESCO.