Islamabad: Pakistan-occupied Kashmir’s education department has made the Islamic head dress hijab compulsory for female students and teachers in co-education institutions.

A report in Dawn said that a circular was issued in this regard on February 24.

The circular which is said to have the signatures of a deputy director Pok's Directorate General of Elementary and Secondary Education (Males), which said, “It has been observed that the female students/teachers are not made to wear hijab in institutions where co-education is practised. Therefore, under the passed-on instructions, female students/teachers should be strictly bound to wear hijab.”

The document warned that if the instructions were violated, disciplinary proceedings would be initiated “against the heads of the institutions concerned”.

The media house quoted Deevan Ali Khan Chughtai, minister for elementary and secondary education, as saying “We have done it exactly in observance of the injunctions of God and His Messenger (peace be upon him) […] The women have been ordained to wear veils and men have been ordained to lower their gaze,” he said.

(With UNI inputs)