It’s fair to say that Pakistan is not run by a moderate government. It’s even fairer and much more accurate to say that Pakistan’s government is in bed with Islamic extremists. We saw this from how Pakistani government elements have assisted the Taliban and we can see it also in how religious extremism is creeping into Pakistan’s education system.
According to a women oriented South Asian website called She The People, illustrations in a children’s text book for use in Pakistani schools have been redrawn from showing a woman in a Western style but relatively modest dress, to one showing traditional Islamic Pakistani dress. The cartoon was redrawn to hide the woman’s legs lest it upset the Islamic fundamentalists who hold so much power in modern Pakistan.
She The People said:
Punjab Curriculum and Textbook Board of Pakistan recently faced the ire of many as they objected to a image of a woman in Class two book. The woman in the picture was wearing a western dress with her legs showing.
As per reports, the Board in hand-written note pointed out ” Redraw keeping in view our own culture.” The picture was with the note was shared on Twitter by Yassar Latif Hamdani, former Harvard Law visiting fellow and Barrister. The cartoon image of the woman has now been changed to a woman wearing salwar-kameez and dupatta.
Hamdani in the tweet wrote, “Pakistanis are so scared of women’s legs. Here is a textbook rejected by Punjab Textbook Board. It is clear that Pat cannot be a Pakistani name but we must raise the culture angle nonetheless. I mean live with it bro.”
A human rights organisation of Pakistan named Shahzad Ahmed reportedly pointed out what the women in Pakistan’s Punjab district actually wear. He wrote, “It seems that Punjab Textboard people never visited a Punjabi village, where they would see a lot of women wearing a lungi and not always it will cover the legs as Shalwar or Jeans will do. And it is truly cultural and totally acceptable. Are they going to ban Lungi?”
The She The People article went on to say that this is not the first example of Pakistan’s education system taking an Islamic turn. The article said that Islamic religious instruction is being embedded into Pakistan’s education system, especially for the country’s Muslim children who will have more Koran teaching and have religious instruction placed in Urdu and English textbooks.
Erasing women from the public eye is wrong. It’s wrong when the trans rights activists do it, it’s wrong when Haredi Jewish extremists do it and it is most certainly wrong when places like Pakistan, where women are already at significant social and cultural disadvantage do it.
