Karnataka hijab row spreads to city

Hyderabad: Protesting the ban of hijab in educational institutions in Karnataka, the students of Nizamia Unani Tibbi College near Charminar, Anwar-ul-Uloom in Mallepally and other Muslim women outfits in different parts of the city on Wednesday took to streets.

The students holding placards that read Hijab is my right, raised slogans against the treatment of Muslim girl students in Karnataka for wearing hijab. The educational institutions there had reportedly asked the Muslim girls not to wear hijab inside the colleges after a group of male students attended the college wearing saffron scarves in a protest against the girls being allowed to wear headscarves on college premises.

The girl students at Unani College, seen holding national flag and placards, condemned the act of neighbouring state. The placards like 'Hijab is my right and Hijab is my pride', 'I respect what you wear, you should respect what I wear' and 'Judge me by what is in my head, not by what on my hand' garnered onlookers attention.

"The hijab has nothing to do with education. We have the right to education, but some people are trying to deny us that opportunity by raking up this issue," claimed students.

Similarly, another protest rally was taken out at Anwar-ul-Uloom College at Mallepally where over 50 students, both boys and girls, took part raising slogans of 'AllahuAkbar' and 'We want justice'. The protesters carried banners in support of Muslim girls in Karnataka. They also carried pictures of students protesting in Karnataka, including the picture of Muskan Khan, who has become a symbol of the protest in support of hijab after standing bravely in front of some right-wing activists heckling her at a college in Karnataka.

Meanwhile, as a part of the protest, several women held a congregation prayer 'Qunoot-e-Naazilah' at Ujale Shah Eidgah in Saidabad. The women strongly condemned the act of educational institutions in Karnataka, and the prohibiting of Muslim women's right to wear hijab in schools and colleges. They also carried banners and placards in support of wearing hijab.