Saeed asks men to 'make their women observe purdah'

Delivering the sermon during Friday prayers at the JuD's Jamia Masjid Al-Qadsia at Chowburji in Lahore, Saeed described the ban imposed by France and other European countries on wearing the 'hijab' and constructing minarets in mosques as a "conspiracy against Muslims."

JuD chief Hafiz Mohd Saeed has asked Muslim men to "make their women observe purdah" and criticised co-education saying it is perverting the youth of Pakistan.

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Delivering the sermon during Friday prayers at the JuD's Jamia Masjid Al-Qadsia at Chowburji in Lahore, Saeed described the ban imposed by France and other European countries on wearing the 'hijab' and constructing minarets in mosques as a "conspiracy against Muslims."

"Tell the Europeans (by making your women wear a veil) how important it (the veil) is for a Muslim woman," he said yesterday.

Saeed - a prime accused in the Mumbai attacks - was also critical of co-education in Pakistan.

"Through co-education, the youth of the country is getting perverted," he said. Saeed asked parents and teachers to play their role in stopping co-education.

"Anti-Islam forces are spending billions of dollars to keep Muslims away from the basic teachings of Islam. They want us to adopt their (Western) culture and our rulers have also become a tool in their hands and are promoting obscenity here," he said.

Criticising Pakistan's rulers, the founder of the Lashker-e-Taiba said the country must not submit and surrender to the US on every issue.