Recently the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa government made a bizarre decision when it announced that school girls in the KPK province will have to cover themselves up with burqa. The decision was made mandatory for all female students studying in all government-run schools and colleges in the province. But the recent orders from the government didn’t go well with the people and the government received severe backlash for their decision. And as a result of it the KPK government decided to reverse the decision with the Chief Minister taking back the order which meant that the burqa will not be a mandatory dress code for the female students in the province. The announcement to reverse the decision was also made from the official Twitter account of Pakistan Tehreek Insaaf (PTI), the ruling party in the province.
It was announced that the KP government doesn’t believe in any compulsion and people are free to decide what they want to wear, including the school girls when they are going to school and colleges. The decision was reversed with immediate effect as sanity prevailed in the minds of the government officials. Human Rights Minister Shireen Mazari also appreciated the reversal of the decision and said that there is no way that one should regulate what a woman wears and what she doesn’t wear. She also said that there is no point of penalizing the girls just because there are some acts conducted in the society that is conducted by someone else.
The first order to wear burqa or abaya was issued in the Haripur district last week where principals of schools and colleges were asked to make it mandatory that girls should wear abaya or burqa to keep themselves covered. The main reason for taking the decision was due to the cultural norms in the KPK province and hence girls were asked to keep themselves covered. The decision was taken so that the girls are in abaya or burqa will be allowed to come to school and colleges by their parents and it will help the government to educate more school girls as parents are reluctant to send their girls in uniform.
KP Government doesn’t believe in compulsion, and citizens are free to decide what’s best for them. The notification circulating regarding compulsion of Abaya for the girls is hereby withdrawn with immediate effect#KPKUpdates pic.twitter.com/1LhhwEX33V
— PTI (@PTIofficial) September 16, 2019
Sir @SAYousafzaiPTI I am glad that sense prevailed.This is the beauty of democracy”Laa ikraa ha fid din”din mein koi jabbar nahin.This is also a principle of Islam. Woman must b allowed to do Parda or Abaya if she wants,but similarly those who don’t want to should b free to do so https://t.co/UybuHc5ohy
— Shehzad Roy (@ShehzadRoy) September 16, 2019
آپ کی سوچ قطعی طور پر ان یورپئن حکومتوں سے مختلف نہیں جو عباء پر پابندی لگانا درست سمجھتے ہیں، یہ ایک انتہا پسندانہ سوچ ہے ، سیدھی بات ہے جس نے عباء پہننی ہے وہ پہنے جس نے نہیں پہننی وہ بھی محترم، سوچ میں وسعت لائیں۔ https://t.co/JXdFDZbvMu
— Ch Fawad Hussain (@fawadchaudhry) September 16, 2019
Forcing young girls to wear abaya goes against fundamental rights in our Constitution; is contrary to research that shows young boys are as vulnerable to sexual violence as young girls – dress is irrelevant; and detracts from Govt’s duty to protect children, punish detractors pic.twitter.com/QGzM2ZUqxD
— Reema Omer (@reema_omer) September 16, 2019
Abaya made mandatory in #Peshawar girls schools. Instead of going after harassers & penalizing them, #KP govt is repressing victims. Abaya is not part of school uniform & govt has no business regulating students life outside schools. pic.twitter.com/A1uHxodBn4
— Manzoor Ali (@Manzoor) September 16, 2019
Girl students wear dupatta, carry heavy bags, can’t play proper sports because what they wear. Now Government want these girls to wear Abaya and chador so they are not harassed. Change conditions and stop changing these girls https://t.co/KAJGt8iLBX pic.twitter.com/luTNctc51E
— Shehzad Roy (@ShehzadRoy) September 14, 2019
https://twitter.com/dawoodmajoka/status/1173643430716743680?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1173643430716743680&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.divaonline.com.pk%2Fkpk-government-withdraws-notification-on-making-burqa-mandatory-after-receiving-a-ton-of-backlash%2F
https://www.instagram.com/p/B2gGhqTpLgY/?igshid=f8kzzttqg0jl&fbclid=IwAR0cpTCT492LobEGL-gurS-I7Kxx1Syu6YbVFM-13aRvRb2kDRhQ7Men9WM
