According to AIMIM chief Asaduddin Owaisi, he has a message for Pakistan that translates to ‘oil your own machine.’ It comes after several Pakistani ministers commented on the ongoing hijab row. “Malala was attacked in Pakistan and she had to leave Pakistan. Pakistan constitution doesn’t allow a non-Muslim to become PM. My advice to Pakistan will be idhar mat dekho (don’t look this side). You have many problems in your backyard. Look at that. Look at Baloch. This country is our country. This is our internal affair. Don’t put your nose in our problems. Your nose will be hurt,” Owaisi said as he was addressing a poll rally in Uttar Pradesh.
Shah Mahmood Qureshi, Pakistan’s foreign minister, said depriving Muslim girls of education over this hijab row is a grave violation of their fundamental human rights. “Depriving Muslim girls of education is a grave violation of fundamental human rights. To deny anyone this fundamental right & terrorise them for wearing a hijab is absolutely oppressive. The world must realise this is part of Indian state plan of ghettoisation of Muslims,” the minister said.
Terming India’s situation as ‘terrifying’, Pakistan’s information and broadcasting minister Ch Fawad Hussain said, “Indian Society is declining with super speed under unstable leadership. Wearing Hijab is a personal choice just as any other dress citizens must be given free choice.”
Hijab-clad students were denied entry to some colleges in Karnataka due to the controversy. As soon as the issue flared up, the education department declared there would be no dress that harms harmony or public order in schools and colleges. Further protests followed in several parts of Karnataka, some of which turned violent, forcing the government to shut down all educational institutions.
The video of second-year BCom student Muskan, wearing a burqa, confronting a group of male students outside a college has gone viral, grabbing international attention. Activist Malala on Tuesday tweeted condemning the ‘marginalisation’ as she wrote, “Refusing to let girls go to school in their hijabs is horrifying. Objectification of women persists — for wearing less or more. Indian leaders must stop the marginalisation of Muslim women.”
