Hassan Nisar is not stupid, He is an intelligent man.
I consider Malala a hero because she stood for women's rights i.e. their education when it was dangerous in the neck of the woods where she grew up.
But If I was famous and had been asked this question in Public, I would have said the same thing i.e. I would have also denied if she was a hero.
Reason -- Malala is despised by Talibans who are about to come in power in Afghanistan, How much support they will have in Pakistan after they make a government in Afghanistan? Well just see a few days old videos of Peshawar where in a funeral hundreds if not thousands of people had Taliban flags and chanting their slogans. Why would you make Talibans your enemy by calling Malala a hero ? This is the same reason Shah Mahmood Qureshi refused to call Usama a terrorist. If Usama was the Taliban's hero, it is very scary to call him a terrorist when Taliban come into power.