ISLAMABAD: Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry, while reacting to protests against wearing Hijab in schools by Indian Muslims, said that Indian society is declining under the ‘unstable’ Modi regime.
In a tweet, the minister said the incidents in India are terrifying and India is “declining with super speed under unstable leadership”. He said wearing the Hijab is a personal choice as any other dress and citizens must be given a choice.
“What’s going on in #ModiEndia is terrifying, Indian Society is declining with super speed under unstable leadership. Wearing #Hujab is a personal choice just as any other dress citizens must be given free choice,” the minister said in a tweet.
What’s going on in #ModiEndia is terrifying, Indian Society is declining with super speed under unstable leadership. Wearing #Hujab is a personal choice just as any other dress citizens must be given free choice #AllahHuAkbar
— Ch Fawad Hussain (@fawadchaudhry) February 8, 2022
A video posted on social showing a hijab-wearing Muslim student being heckled by a Hindu far-right mob at a college in Karnataka state has caused outrage amid intensifying protests over ban on Islamic headscarves in the southern state.
The girl named Muskan Khan was surrounded by men wearing saffron scarves as she arrived at her college in Mandya and confronted the protesters. “I was just there to submit an assignment; that’s why I entered the college. They were not allowing me to go inside just because I was [wearing] the burqa,” and Khan later told Indian news channel.
“After that, they started shouting the slogan ‘Jai Shri Ram’. (Hail Lord Ram). Then I started to scream ‘Allah Akbar’ (God is great),” she said, adding that she would keep fighting for her right to wear the hijab,” Khan said.
The ban on Islamic headscarves has outraged Muslim students while Hindu right-wing groups have tried to prevent Muslim women from entering educational institutions causing communal tension.
The Karnataka government run by the right-wing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Tuesday announced shutting down of educational institutions for three days. Fresh demonstrations saw police fire tear gas to disperse a crowd at one government-run campus, while a heavy police presence was seen at schools in nearby towns.
Students at a government-run high school were told not to wear hijabs last month. Since then Hindu far-right groups have tried to prevent hijab-wearing Muslim women from entering educational institutions in the state.
Local media reported last week that several schools in the coastal city of Udupi had denied entry to Muslim girls wearing the hijab citing an education ministry order, prompting protests from parents and students.
Tensions have frayed further in recent days in Udupi as students with saffron shawls – typically worn by Hindu far-right wing groups – thronged into classrooms to show their support of the hijab ban.
A case filed by one of the students, who said in her petition that wearing the hijab was a fundamental right to religion guaranteed by the constitution, was heard in the Karnataka High Court in state capital Bengaluru.
