ISLAMABAD, 5 November 2006 — The Peshawar High Court has ordered women lawyers not to wear veils when they appear before judges when they plead legal cases.
“You are professionals and should be dressed as required of lawyers,” Chief Justice Pervaiz Khan told veiled lawyer Raees Anjum, ordering the ban on veils.
“We (the judges) cannot identify veiled women lawyers and suspect that veiled lawyers appear to seek adjournment of proceedings in other lawyers’ cases,” said the chief justice, who added that he could barely hear the pleas by lawyer Anjum made from behind her veil.
She later told reprorters: “I was embarrassed when the chief justice asked me not to wear veil in courtrooms. I feel more confident in my hijab (veil).” Anjum, who described herself as “a progressive Muslim woman...living and working in this conservative society.” “Hijab reflects a woman’s modesty,” she added.
Anjum said several female judges in the conservative North West Frontier Province, where the Peshawar High Court administers justice, hold their courts in the veil. And women legislators of the Islamic alliance that rules the province wear the veil without exception, she pointed out.
She said while talking to reporters that the judiciary in the province held differing views on the issue.
