Sir: German Chancellor Angela Merkel pointed out that Malala is a courageous girl and a point of pride for Pakistan. In reply, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif endorsed her view and said: “I think Malala has done a great service for Pakistan; the country was very proud when she received the Nobel Prize.” On the other hand, in Pakistan anti-Malala protests were in progress. Some school children carried anti-Malala posters and observed an anti-Malala day. What is her crime? What wrong has she done? Is it because she laid bare the terrible events in the country, particularly in Swat, or the lethargy of the authorities in taking action against the dreaded Taliban? Or because she made a passing remark about the writer Salman Rushdie while discussing freedom of speech in one of the chapters in her book, I Am Malala? It is a shame: people condemning a courageous girl who miraculously survived death after the Taliban shot her, and is working hard for the cause of girls’ education in particular and education in general and whose work has been acknowledged by the world. People in Pakistan should shed their shallow thinking and start working towards progress and prosperity in this modern advanced age. RAFIQ IBRAHIM Winfield USA