Young activist Malala Yousafzai urged Pakistan not to rename a college in her honor, fearing it might provoke militant attacks on students, an official said Friday.
Senior government official Kamran Rehman said Malala called him from London on Friday to make the request after students broke into the school and tore down pictures of the 15-year old activist. Students boycotted their classes, protesting that renaming the college endangered their lives, AP reports.
Malala was shot by the Taliban for promoting girls’ education in Pakistan and has become a symbol of youth resistance against militants. She is currently in London, where she is being treated for critical wounds she suffered in the Taliban attack in October, which drew international condemnation.
The Taliban vowed to “target anyone who speaks out” against them.
Malala was internationally acclaimed for her diary, published by BBC, chronicling Taliban’s atrocities in the Swat Valley. She was then 11.