Textbook with Malala’s picture confiscated in Pakistan

PAKISTAN authorities confiscated copies of a school textbook that had a picture of education activist and Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousufzai.

The Grade 7 social studies book published by the Oxford University Press (OUP) had images of several important people of Pakistan, including the country’s founder Muhammad Ali Jinnah and late military officer Major Aziz Bhatti, apart from Malala.

Punjab Curriculum and Textbook Board (PCTB), the provincial textbook regulatory authority, raided several stores in Lahore and seized copies of the book saying it was published without mandatory clearance from it.

Officials descended on OUP offices on Monday (12) and seized the entire stock of the book after handing over a letter that stated that the book had not been issued a no-objection certificate (NOC).

However, PCTB claimed that the presence of the activist’s picture in the book was not the reason for the confiscation.

An official of OUP said the private publisher had approached the PCTB for a review of the content of the book, but it went ahead with the printing without official clearance from the board, according to a Dawn report on Tuesday (13).

“The Oxford University Press has published the book despite not being issued the NOC,” the report quoted the unnamed official as saying.

Social media was abuzz in the country, suggesting that the book was seized for the presence of Malala’s picture in it.

The UK-based education activist who left Pakistan after an assassination attempt has been a subject of political debates in the conservative nation in recent months.

Her remarks on marriage in an interview with a magazine prompted a few lawmakers to seek an explanation from her family members on her reported statements.

Pakistani authorities had banned 100 books last year citing incorrect maps of the country and “blasphemous content” among others as the reasons for their action.