ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s government on Friday denied it had issued orders for women not to be allowed to enter government buildings unless they wore a dupatta, or traditional shawl, after a woman posted on social media that she was denied entry into the Punjab Civil Secretariat because of the way she was dressed.
Reacting to twitter user Sidra Butt’s post, the government urged people “not to hurl allegations without concrete evidence”.
Butt posted a video on Friday morning which shows her having a conversation with a guard at the Punjab Civil Secretariat, in Lahore, after he stopped her from entering the building. He reasoned it was because she was not wearing a dupatta and that he was acting on the orders of the Provincial Minister For Primary and Secondary Healthcare, Dr. Yasmin Rashid. He added that Dr. Rashid issued the order after an “inappropriately dressed” woman came to meet her.
“The Minister [Dr. Rashid] has not issued any discriminatory orders like this. One should not hurl any blame/allegation without concrete evidence,” the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaaf (PTI) posted on its officiTwitterter account, urging Butt to “report the incident to concerned authorities”.
They also tagged @FakeNews_Buster in the post which takes users to the official handle of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting for exposing fake news.
The Minister @Dr_YasminRashid has not issued any discriminatory orders like this. One should not hurl any blame/allegation without concrete evidence.
You may report the incident to concerned authorities.@FakeNews_Buster https://t.co/xMpdnNvi6k— Tehreek-e-Insaf (@InsafPK) October 19, 2018
In the video – which garnered more than 400 retweets and 600 likes on last count – the guard can be seen telling a woman that she will not be allowed inside the building if she doesn’t wear the dupatta first, on the orders of Dr. Rashid. When asked if he had any written communication to this effect, he says he had none as the orders were issued verbally.
went to the Minister’s Block, Civil Secretariat lhr today coz I heard of this issue that you can’t enter without a dupatta. They refused me too. I asked for written orders and there were none. They used your name ma’am @Dr_YasminRashid . You can see. @PTIofficial #NayaPakistan pic.twitter.com/HvzLThV0Lh
— sidra butt (@ButtSidra) October 19, 2018
In another twitter comment posted by Dr. Rashid on her own handle a while later, she termed the claims as absurd, adding that a ‘show cause’ notice has been filed against the guard in the video.
“This is quite absurd indeed!” she wrote. “Neither has such an instruction been given nor is it possible to discriminate against anyone on this pretext. Have taken notice of this. The guard has been investigated and a show cause notice is being issued to him.”
This is quite absurd indeed!
Neither has such an instruction been given nor is it possible to discriminate against anyone on this pretext
Have taken notice of this.
The guard has been investigated and a show cause notice is being issued to him. https://t.co/cTg2L3g2hv— Dr. Yasmin Rashid (@Dr_YasminRashid) October 19, 2018
Questioning how the guard could morally police the woman, political analyst Sehar Tariq wrote: “Entry for women into the Punjab civil secretariat depends on if they are wearing a dupatta or not. Orders for this dress code enforcement allegedly came from a woman minister — Yasmeen Rashid. You cannot and should not police women’s bodies like this.”
Dr. Rashid was appointed to her post earlier this summer by the new government.
