Moral Police Target Lungis In Sharjah

A man should be judged by his deeds not on his appearance - Al Quran

The migrant labors from South Asia have played a great role in the transformation of Middle Eastern countries. Most of their construction works consisted of physical labors by people of this region. They clean the garbage, work in shops even some have been recruited by the police. But in general they are being looked down upon as miskins (beggars), mainly because they are poor enough. Here is another example how they are being singled out and dishonored:

Do you see any indecency in any of the dresses above? But believe it or not the Sharjah Police are cracking down on men wearing the lungi (on the left) in public.

An Asian man was arrested and interrogated by police patrols in Sharjah a few days ago for wearing a lungi in public.

The man said police told him lungis cannot be worn in public.

Sharjah Police maintain that indecent and revealing clothes are not allowed in public. "The decency law was implemented in Sharjah ten years ago," an officer said.

He said people were expected to wear decent clothes in public, but did not explain if there was a ban on wearing the lungi in public.

Here is what an Arab has to say about Lungi:

Lungi is not indecent dress. when any body lift the lungi above the thigh then it is indecent. Even kandoora can be lifted. if police found any one lifting lungi then they can take actions, but generally when anybody wear lungi in decent manner then it is wrong to object that.

You will see a lot of illogical comment in that Gulf News article about Lungi being indecent and it should be banned. It may be a poor man's attire and be considered informal but who decides fashion? Is Sharjah paying these labors decent salaries so they can afford fancy thobes? What would these people say when Sharjah bans tight jeans because you can see the curves - it may be interpreted as indecent although its not revealing. There is already a crackdown on jeans in Iran.

There are certain rules about attires in every society. In Bangladesh there are places where you need formal dress and cannot enter with a Lungi. But nobody has the audacity to say that Lungi will be banned from public places.

Illogical moral policing will not establish a good example of advancement of society. It is pure racism in a new bottle.