AGL 40.20 Decreased By ▼ -1.30 (-3.13%)
AIRLINK 129.11 Increased By ▲ 1.11 (0.87%)
BOP 6.60 Increased By ▲ 0.34 (5.43%)
CNERGY 4.03 Decreased By ▼ -0.10 (-2.42%)
DCL 8.45 Increased By ▲ 0.01 (0.12%)
DFML 41.25 Increased By ▲ 0.56 (1.38%)
DGKC 87.00 Decreased By ▼ -0.90 (-1.02%)
FCCL 33.35 Decreased By ▼ -0.75 (-2.2%)
FFBL 65.90 Decreased By ▼ -0.43 (-0.65%)
FFL 10.54 Decreased By ▼ -0.02 (-0.19%)
HUBC 110.70 Increased By ▲ 2.00 (1.84%)
HUMNL 15.23 Increased By ▲ 0.77 (5.33%)
KEL 4.78 Increased By ▲ 0.13 (2.8%)
KOSM 7.83 Increased By ▲ 0.50 (6.82%)
MLCF 41.90 Decreased By ▼ -0.82 (-1.92%)
NBP 60.50 Decreased By ▼ -0.34 (-0.56%)
OGDC 182.80 Increased By ▲ 3.83 (2.14%)
PAEL 25.36 Decreased By ▼ -0.34 (-1.32%)
PIBTL 6.26 Increased By ▲ 0.20 (3.3%)
PPL 147.81 Increased By ▲ 1.66 (1.14%)
PRL 24.56 Decreased By ▼ -0.35 (-1.41%)
PTC 16.24 Increased By ▲ 0.10 (0.62%)
SEARL 70.50 Increased By ▲ 0.30 (0.43%)
TELE 7.30 Increased By ▲ 0.08 (1.11%)
TOMCL 36.30 Increased By ▲ 0.10 (0.28%)
TPLP 7.85 Increased By ▲ 0.01 (0.13%)
TREET 15.30 Decreased By ▼ -0.29 (-1.86%)
TRG 51.70 Increased By ▲ 1.34 (2.66%)
UNITY 27.35 Increased By ▲ 0.45 (1.67%)
WTL 1.23 Decreased By ▼ -0.01 (-0.81%)
BR100 9,842 Increased By 47.4 (0.48%)
BR30 30,036 Increased By 389.6 (1.31%)
KSE100 92,520 Increased By 499.1 (0.54%)
KSE30 28,786 Increased By 121.7 (0.42%)

A Cairo court ruled on Sunday in favour of the Egyptian government's decision to ban female students wearing the niqab, or full-face veil, in university examinations.
The case, and that of a religious edict banning the niqab in girls' schools dormitories, has bounced back and forth among various courts after the minister of higher education imposed the ban in October and it was then appealed by 55 students.
The government has long been wary of Islamist thinking, and in the 1990s crushed Islamists seeking to set up a religious state. It also is keen to quell opposition ahead of a parliamentary election expected by December, to be followed by a presidential vote. The government said it brought in the ban in part because students, male and female, were sitting exams disguised as other candidates by wearing a face veil.
However, Sunday's administrative court ruling will not necessarily be an end to the case because such cases can be appealed and refilled many times in Egypt. The right to wear the niqab in universities has long been an issue for Egypt's courts. In 2007, a court ruled that the American University in Cairo, seen as a bastion of Western liberal education in Egypt, was wrong to bar a female scholar who wears the niqab from using its facilities. The court cited personal and religious freedom as grounds for its ruling. Just 30 years ago, women attended Egypt's flagship Cairo University wearing miniskirts and sleeveless tops. They strolled along the beaches of Alexandria in skimpy swimsuits at a time when society was apparently more liberal and tolerant.
Today, majority Sunni Muslim and minority Christian Egypt has seen the growing influence of strict Saudi-based ideology on an already conservative and Islamised society. Egypt, unlike other Muslim states such as Saudi Arabia and Iran, does not require women to cover their heads with a scarf.

Copyright Reuters, 2010

Comments

Comments are closed.