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Malala Yousafzai's book banned in Pakistani schools

Officials say they have banned teenage education activist Malala Yousafzai's book from private schools across Pakistan, calling her a tool of the West.

Teenage activist called tool of the West

Malala Yousafzai addresses students and faculty after receiving the 2013 Peter J. Gomes Humanitarian Award at Harvard University in in Sept. 2013. The teenage activist's book, I Am Malala, has been banned in Pakistani private schools. (Jessica Rinaldi/Associated Press)

Officials say they have banned teenage education activist Malala Yousafzai's book from private schools across Pakistan, calling her a tool of the West.

Malala attracted global attention last year when the Taliban shot her in the head in northwest Pakistan for criticizing the group. She released a memoir in October, I Am Malala, that was co-written with British journalist Christina Lamb.

Adeeb Javedani, president of the All Pakistan Private Schools Management Association, said Sunday his group banned Malala's book from the libraries of its 40,000 affiliated schools. He said Malala was representing the West, not Pakistan.

Malala has become an international hero for opposing the Taliban and standing up for girls' education. But conspiracy theories have flourished in Pakistan that her shooting was staged to create a hero for the West.