Authorities In Northwestern Pakistan Withdraw costume Code Order After Outcry

PESHAWAR, Pakistan -- Following a nationwide outcry, authorities in Pakistan's northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have reversed orders making it obligatory for schoolgirls in two cities to put on garments masking their heads.

prime Minister Imran Khan's ruling Tehreek-e Insaf (PTI) pointed out in a tweet on September 17 that the provincial executive had withdrawn the orders, adding that "americans are free to choose what is first rate for them."

The previous day, district schooling officials in the provincial capital, Peshawar, issued a round directing the heads of govt women colleges to "teach all students to wear the dress/chador to veil/conceal/cowl up themselves to be able to protect them from any unethical incident."

"The be counted may be handled as most urgent essential and critical," it brought.

The district schooling branch within the metropolis of Haripur, one other metropolis in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province, had previously issued an identical directive.

And Ziaullah Bangash, an adviser to the province's chief minister, has spoke of that the measure will be applied all over the province.

The moves sparked a backlash on social media, with activists condemning them as yet one more curb on ladies's rights in a deeply conservative country.

"putting the onus of harassment on victims. As if girls who wear the hijab and abaya do not get harassed. well carried out KP. well done," Pakistani reporter Amber Rahim Shamsi wrote on Twitter.