Former Bollywood actress Zaira Wasim has condemned the ban on hijab in Karnataka schools and colleges. In a lengthy note on Facebook, she reacted to the controversy and shared her opinion. Calling hijab an 'obligation in Islam', Zaira slammed the system for harassing women for 'carrying out a religious commitment'.
She wrote, "The inherited notion of hijab being a choice is an ill-informed one. It's often either a construct of convenience or ignorance. Hijab isn't a choice but an obligation in Islam. Likewise, a woman who wears the hijab is fulfilling an obligation enjoined upon her by the God she loves and has submitted herself to. I, as a woman who wears the hijab with gratitude and humility, resent and resist this entire system where women are being stopped and harassed for merely carrying out a religious commitment."
Zaira added in her note, "Stacking this bias against Muslim women and setting up systems where they should have to decide between education and hijab or to give up either is an absolute injustice. You're attempting to compel them to make a very specific choice that feeds your agenda and then criticising them while they're imprisoned in what you've constructed. There is no other option to encourage them to choose differently. What is this if not a bias with people who confirm it acting in support of it. On top of all this, building a facade that all this is being done in the name of empowerment is even worse when it is quite exactly the opposite of that. Sad."
The National Film Award-winning Kashmiri actress decided to quit showbiz in June 2019. Zaira decided to bid adieu to her film career as she felt her "relationship with her religion" was "threatened". Her last film as an actress was The Sky Is Pink.
(Source: Instagram)
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