Pakistan is the second most populated Muslim country in the world but despite the fact that around 97% of the population is Muslim no female officers are deployed at Karachi airport to process the identification of female passengers who wear religious veil & niqab.
This caused problem on Thursday night at Jinnah International Airport when two female passengers Mrs. Nazneen Saif & her daughter Javeria Saif were stopped for identification. Only male officers were on duty at that time who demanded the female passengers to remove their face veil for identification.
The females requested for female officers but their request was turned over by claiming that no female officers are on duty. Mrs. Nazneen Saif protested & said that they have travelled many non-muslim countries but everywhere female officers were available for identification.
‘Pakistan is a muslim country yet you are not respecting the religious practice of a muslim woman’ said Mrs. Nazneen Saif.
The passengers were travelling from London Heathrow Airport from flight PK-604. After some protest they had to remove their veil for identification. It was reported by media that no female officers are deployed during night shift causing problems.
When media contacted Additional Director Asim Qaimkhani he responded by saying that no such incident has happened and no complaint was lodged.