One who uses lipstick will face punishment in Pakistan

If you look at it, they will be punished”, said the Azad Jammus and Kashmir University's announcement, adding that students will pay 100 rupees ($0.65) for each violation.

On January 21st, this announcement has provoked outrage, as social networking users, students and human rights advocates have said this decision constitutes human rights violations. On social networks, activists have described this decision as restrictions on rights in the highly religious and conservative region.

Perhaps because of these reactions, the order was overturned on January 27th by the university, whose main campus was at Muzafarabad.

However, the interim order marks the latest effort to implement the Islamic dress code in schools and universities in Pakistan and Kasmir, where most residents belong to Islam. A university professor, who has asked to remain anonymous, has told Radio Free Europe that members of the administration have made this decision following numerous inscriptions carried out with lipstick in women's classrooms and baths.

Some photos sent to Radio Free Europe by this teacher show some heavy - looking X - rays. Their truthfulness has not been verified. University attempts to justify failure have not prevented a series of criticism.

Has this really happened? Is there not a university that can spend time and energy on? Pakistani senator Sherry Rehman asked.

Marchine Aratat, the joint group fighting for women's rights, has said that <x0... steps such aggressive from institutions, which should in fact be freedom pledges, are disturbing and violate student basic rights”.

Ashgar Hayat, journalist for the Pakistani television network, GNN, has named the ban a very dangerous “”.

“instead of providing quality in youth education, administrations are setting red lipstick stops”. Ali Kashmir, human rights activist, has considered the decision to be the next “attack on freedom of expression”.

The temporary ban on putting in lipsticks increases contradictions in some schools and universities in Pakistan, which have occasionally attempted to isolate students and practice strict dress rules for women.

In September last year, authorities in Pakistan's northwestern province, Kiber Packuva, have made the decision that forces girls to school in two cities to set head coverings.

Some students at a school in Peshawar.
Officials for education in the capital of this province, Peshavar, have told girls' school directors “to instruct all students to put up covers to hide/fulfill themselves in order to protect themselves from any non-ethic incident”.

“This issue should be addressed with urgency and importance”, said in decision. The Harripur City Department, located in the same province, has made such decisions earlier.

The decision has sparked much opposition on social networks, as activists have said it is another restriction on women's rights. And again, after the rise of national tensions, authorities have suspended the decision.