The circular ordered female students to cover themselves in order “to protect them from any unethical incident.” For Health Minister, “The veil is part of our religion but cannot be forced”.
Islamabad (AsiaNews/Agencies) - The Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government decided two days ago to withdraw its earlier province-wide order instructing female students in secondary and higher secondary public schools to wear the veil.
Following widespread public criticism, the directive was withdrawn. Prime Minister Imran Khan’s ruling Tehreek-e Insaf (PTI) said that the provincial government had withdrawn the order, adding that “people are free to choose what is good for them.”
Health and Information Minister Shaukat Yousafzai said that “the veil is part of our religion but cannot be forced.”
On September 16, district education officials in the provincial capital, Peshawar, issued a circular directing the heads of government girls schools to “instruct all students to wear the gown/chador [cloak that leaves the face uncovered, ed.] to veil/conceal/cover up themselves in order to protect them from any unethical incident.”
The moves sparked a backlash on social media, with activists condemning them as yet another curb on women’s rights in a deeply conservative country.
“Putting the onus of harassment on victims. As if women who wear the hijab and abaya don’t get harassed. Well done KP (Khyber Pakhtunkhwa). Well done,” Pakistani reporter Amber Rahim Shamsi wrote on Twitter.