A network of private schools in Pakistan observed “I am not Malala day” in protest against Malala Yousafzai, a young Pakistani activist for girls' education.

The All Pakistan Private Schools Federation condemned Malala for her perceived support of controversial novelist Sir Salman Rushdie. The federation had previous banned Yousafzai's autobiography for what it said was the book’s "anti-Pakistan and anti-Islam content."

The Federation organized walks, seminars and press conferences to bring attention to the "I am not Malala" day.

On October 10, 2014, Yousafzai, at age 17, became the youngest recipient of the Nobel Prize, which she won for her struggle against the suppression of children and young people and for the right of all children to an education.

She was targeted by the Taliban in Pakistan where she began her career of activism at the age of 12 when she began writing a blog for the BBC in Urdu. In October, 2012, Taliban gunmen shot Malala in the head as she was on her way home from school.

Malala made a miraculous recovery and has since increased her activities on behalf of children around the world. She and her family now reside in England where she went for treatment after the shooting.

One year later, in October of 2013, she published her memoirs titled, I Am Malala: The Story of the Girl Who Stood Up for Education and was Shot by the Taliban.

"We severely condemned the chapter of the book in which Salman Rushdie's book has been mentioned as freedom of expression by Malala while referring to father's views," said Mirza Kashif Ali, president of the Private Schools Federation.

In the book, Malala sympathizes with Rushdie, who was sentenced to death in a fatwa issued by the late Iranian leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini for the perceived blasphemous content of his book, The Satanic Verses.

In a statement, Ali said, it was "clear that Malala has nexus with Salman Rushdie and Taslima Nasrin, and also has alignment with Salman Rushdie's ideological club."

Nasrin is a Bangladeshi author and physician who was accused by Muslim extremists of blasphemy over her novel Lajja (Shame), a story about the persecution of a Hindu family by Muslims. Because of the charges, Nasrin was forced to flee Bangladesh and currently lives in India.

Rushdie, a British-Indian author, currently lives in the United States.

Blasphemy is a serious crime in Pakistan punishable by the death sentence.