Bringing Purdah-observing girls to bazaar is shameful: JUI

CHITRAL, June 23: Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam Chitral’s general secretary Maulana Abdul Shakoor has said the whole Chitrali nation is ashamed of the way in which Purdah-observing Chitrali daughters were brought to the bazaar and made to stand there in the name of a protest for the establishment of a separate university in the district. In a statement, the JUI leader said in the name of the protest some people brought the Chitrali girls to the busy marketplace and insulted them by exposing them to cameras. Later, their pictures and video clips were distributed through mobile phones and social media. This, he added, was against the teachings of Islam as well as the culture of Chitral. Maulana Shakoor also said the person who led the protest demonstration through his act had caused an embarrassment among the religious leaders in the area. He said because of the high ratio of education Chitral needed a separate university and all political and religious parties had been raising voice for this at different forums. But bringing the Purdah-observing Chitrali daughters to the market in the name of protest was condemnable. The JUI leader said the person who led the protest rally of the girls should also tell the Chitrali nation which party’s head had passed the provincial budget and which party was a coalition partner in the province. He said it would have been appreciable had the person tried to convince his party head to allocate funds for the Chitral university instead of taking the Chitrali daughters to the streets and embarrassing the Chitrali people. He said the JUI always condemned such double standard.  ]]>