On August 22 (local time), Moeed Pirzada, TV Anchor at 92 News and CEO & Editor at Global Village Space, published a poll on Twitter in which he claimed Pakistan would get more powerful if all women start to wear Hijab.
He said, “Afghan Taliban have defeated America with the power of faith & divine support; imposition of Sharia will further empower them; we need to follow them with Sharia to become more successful; as first step, all Pakistani women should start wearing hijab to make us more Powerful!”
At the time of writing this report, over 18,500 people had voted on the poll, with over 66% people in favour of imposing Hijab on all women in Pakistan. While many have echoed his thoughts about Hijab, the tweet is attracting a lot of criticism from both men and women.
A woman named Selma Khan claimed that there is nothing divine about Shariah and said, “What is Shariah but an interpretation. There is absolutely nothing divine about the Shariah, and in no way can it possibly be considered fixed and infallible. The Quran is not a book of laws but God’s direct self-revelation to humanity. It contains the moral code for a living.”
a holy and pious life as a Muslim. But it was never meant to function as a legal code, which is precisely why scholars had to rely so heavily on extra-Quranic sources like ijma (consensus), qiyas (analogy), istislah (which refers to the common good of the people), and ijtihad
— Selma Khan ☕️ (@SelmaKhan14) August 22, 2021
She further said, “A holy and pious life as a Muslim. But it was never meant to function as a legal code, which is precisely why scholars had to rely so heavily on extra-Quranic sources like ijma (consensus), qiyas (analogy), istislah (which refers to the common good of the people), and ijtihad.”
One Meher Bano Qureshi said. “Excuse us… I hope u were being sarcastic, but in certain, the respondents were not. Why do men just want to exert control over women and their choices? Let women chose! Humara jism hamari marzi, humara mustaqbil humari marzi aur hunara libas humari marzi. (Our body, our choice. Our future, our choice. Our clothes, our choice).”
Excuse us…. i hope u were being sarcastic but in certain the respondents were not. Why do men just want exert control over women and their choices? Let women chose! Humara jism hamari marzi, humara mustaqbil humari marzi aur hunara libas humari marzi.
— Meher Bano Qureshi (@MeherBanoQ) August 22, 2021
Former Parliamentarian Saman Jafri said, “The clean-shaven Taliban. How about you get a beard before dictating to women how to dress. That’s also sharia, no?”
The clean shaven Taliban. How about you get a beard before dictating women how to dress. That’s also sharia, no? https://t.co/YZdTSUyclS
— Saman Jafriسمن جعفری (@SsamanJay) August 22, 2021
Moeed Pirzada claims ‘satire’
Moeed Pirzada, after he was criticised for his comment on social media, has decided to claim that it was satire.
Moeed Pirzada said, “Since satire is not understood; here is simple English: Far from following Taliban’s way of life we need to encourage them to open up to the world, create an inclusive Govt with women participation to get international acceptability – needed for stability”.
Atrocities of Taliban against women in Afghanistan
Pirzada appeared to be hailing the Islamist group Taliban for taking over the control of Afghanistan, but failed to acknowledge the atrocities in the hands of the Taliban against the women. Several reports have emerged since the Taliban took over Afghanistan that shows how they treat women under their rule. On August 22, it was reported that they had banned co-education in Herat. They have reportedly described co-education as the ‘root of all evils in the society and issue a ‘fatwa’ against it. Also, they banned female lecturers from teaching to male students.
Though the group has allowed women to continue their education, it is mandatory to wear a full burqa. Women are being killed in the country for not wearing a burqa and even reportedly burnt for not cooking properly. They also banned women employees from local radio stations in Ghazni.
Other reports suggest that the co-founder of an all-girl Afghan school had recently burnt all the documents of her students, fearing persecution in the hands of the Taliban. Another report suggested that the Taliban is hunting for girls and women between the ages of 12 to 45 to use them as sex slaves.
