INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Image copyrightGetty ImagesImage caption
A man wearing a traditional pheran walks through heavy snowfall in Srinagar
Officials in Indian-administered Kashmir have reversed an education department ban on employees wearing traditional dress to
work, following an outcry on social media."All officials visiting the office are advised to visit in proper dress code during any official
It is recommended that no official will visit this office wearing pheran, traditional trousers and slipper/plastic shoes," an 11 December
circular said.In response, Kashmiri social media users protested by sharing images of themselves wearing the pheran - a traditional long
coat or cloak worn by both men and women.The ban was later scrapped, though a separate local government proscription on wearing the pheran
remains in place in the Civil Secretariat in Srinagar city.The outcry comes as Indian-administered Kashmir remains under direct rule from
Delhi after the collapse of the coalition government led by former Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti in June.Many of those to post decried what
they saw as an attack on their cultural heritage
Omar Abdullah, a former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, described the ban as "regressive".Some of those sharing images told of the
significance of the pheran to them.Others described the ban as a "cultural onslaught" and pointed to the practical benefits of the long
cloak in cold weather.Inevitably, at least one social media user looked to cats to make their point.Abdul Rashid, the zonal education
officer who ordered the ban, confirmed to the Indian Express it had been overturned."People used to walk into offices wearing pherans and I
had asked for that to be banned," he said."The chief education officer called me and asked me to revoke the order, so I have."This is not
the first time the pheran has been proscribed
In 2014, the Indian army told journalists not to wear the pheran while visiting a corps headquarters in Srinagar
Later, the army retracted the order, saying the guideline had been "inadvertent".By TheIndianSubcontinent UGC and Social News and Pratik
Jakhar, TheIndianSubcontinent Monitoring
