DHAKA: A launch ceremony for education activist Malala Yousafzai’s book at a university in her native Pakistan was cancelled after pressure from the provincial government.

Organisers and officials said on Tuesday, reports gulfnews.com.

Malala, now 16, survived a Taliban assassination attempt in the country’s restive northwest in 2012 and has become a global champion for the struggle for all children to go to school.

An event to launch her memoir I am Malala at the Area Study Centre of Peshawar University on Monday was called off after police refused to provide security, organisers told media.

She had not been due to attend in person.

‘We were forced to cancel it. We were pressurised by provincial ministers and university vice chancellor,’ Sarfaraz Khan, the Area Study Centre director, told media.

BDST: 1616 HRS, JAN 29, 2014