Pro-Hijab protests at Urdu varsity, Charminar

Hyderabad, Feb 10 (IANS) Students of the Maulana Azad National Urdu University on Thursday staged a protest over ban on hijab in educational institutions in Karnataka.

Expressing solidarity with Muslim students of Karnataka, large number of varsity students marched on the campus.

Raising slogans and holding placards in support of Hijab, students took out a huge rally. "We support Hijab" reads a placard.

The students were raising slogans "Hijab hamara haq hai". One of the protesters was holding the national flag.

Members of civil society also staged a protest at historic Charminar in support of hijab. They expressed solidarity with students of Karnataka. Women from various walks of life and belonging to different religious groups participated in the protest. They were carrying placards with the slogan "Hijab is our right" written on them.

Afsar Jahan, a practicing lawyer at Telangana High Court, pointed out that several Muslim women lawyers in Telangana appear in courts with Hijab and argue cases. "No honourable judge ever raised any objection. They know the Constitution better than us. The Constitution of India has given us the right to religion and thus wearing Hijab is not against the Constitution," she said.

One of the non-Muslim protestors took strong exception to singling out Muslims and alleged that some forces deliberately trying to create communal trouble. She said that if the government does not want religion to be practiced in schools and offices, it should treat all equally by removing symbols and photographs of gods and goddesses from offices and other government institutions.

This was the second day in a row that the Charminar witnessed a protest in support of the hijab. Students of Nizamia Unani Tibbi College had Wednesday staged a silent protest expressing their solidarity with those in Karnataka fighting for the right to wear hijab.

A huge protest rally was held at Anwarul Uloom College at Mallepally in the city on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, management of the Sweekar Academy of Rehabilitation Sciences (SARS) in Hyderabad denied that there is any ban on hijab in classrooms. The management said nobody was stopped from wearing burqa or hijab but students are not advised to wear burqa in classrooms because many patients also come in burqa and it becomes difficult to recognise them.

The clarification came after a student tweeted that the institute is not allowing students to wear burqa.

Some other students of the institute said they did not face any discrimination as they are not asked to remove their hijab.