Don’t politicise ‘hijab’ issue, says Muslim Central Committee chief Haji K S Masood

Mangaluru: An appeal was made on Sunday to not politicize the ‘hijab’ (scarf) issue in pre-university colleges in Karnataka.

In a statement here, the president of the Muslim Central Committee and former MLC Haji K S Masood criticized the MLAs in the twin districts of Dakshina Kannada and Udupi for trying to derive political gains from the row.

He said the principal of a college does not have the right to disallow students into class for wearing hijab.

The principal should prove under whose orders he had told the students to not wear hijab.

The committee has written to the Karnataka Chief Minister Bommai, State Ministers, and the Education Department seeking permission for girl students to wear hijab. An issue involving students should not be communalized, he said.

He also criticized Dakshina Kannada district-in-charge Minister V Sunil Kumar for his remarks on the issue.

The students have approached the court seeking safeguarding the rights guaranteed in the Constitution, Masood said in the statement.