Students in Pak's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa up in arms over imposition of new dress code

Peshawar [Pakistan], May 20 : University students across Khyber Pakhtunkhwa have termed the provincial government's decision to impose a province-wide dress code as an act of moral policing and question the government's move of imposing this regressive policies.
The students referred to the new dress code as an act of moral policing and claimed that it has been unanimously implemented across the province without taking their views in consideration, reported The Express Tribune.
The provincial Governor, as Vice-Chancellor of the universities, directed educational institutes across the provinces a few months ago to follow a dress code. The code advises women to wear an abaya while forbidding them from donning tight jeans, T-shirts, putting on heavy makeup and jewellery, or carrying heavy bags at educational institutes.
On the other hand, male students were told not to wear tight jeans, wrist chains, and long hair.
"This is shameful and incomprehensible. Why is the government policing the universities of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa?" said Yusra Khan, a Peshawar-based undergraduate student.
"We are following our culture. We are not children, we are mature students. The university wants to limit our thinking and take us back to an era where women were not allowed out of their homes without an abaya," she added.
Romaisa Tariq, a student at the Agriculture University, while talking to The Express Tribune, said that the government wanted to police the students and implement the decision, but the students would never follow such decisions.
"Already, the Covid-19 pandemic has made it difficult to continue our education, and if such a decision is implemented, many female students will drop out from the universities," she warned.
Meanwhile, Dr Khadim Hussain, an educationist, said: "The implementation of a dress code at universities goes against the wishes of the students. It is like we are returning to the period of radicalization and extremism."
Lambasting the provincial government for failing to improve the quality of higher education in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, he also highlighted the cases of harassment reported in Islamia College, where no action was taken against the accused.
"We are already living in a society that prevents girls from accessing and completing education. Imposing a dress code will strengthen negative views about the higher education environment," he told The Express Tribune.