Pakistanis offended after China’s Cultural Counsellor of Chinese embassy in Pakistan tweets asking women to remove hijab to ‘see their eyes’

China’s Cultural Counsellor in Pakistan, Zhang Heqing on Saturday tweeted a video of a Chinese girl dancing with a caption urging women to remove their hijab so he could see their eyes.

Off your hijab, let me see your eyes.#Xinjiang dance.
掀起你的盖头来，让我看看你的眼…… pic.twitter.com/j9EKX7zfSR

— Zhang Heqing (@zhang_heqing) March 6, 2021

Hijab is an Islamic veil worn by women in presence of male outside of their family. Many consider it is a symbol of oppression.

Heqing’s tweet, however, did not go down too well, especially with Pakistanis.

Hijab is good and every Muslim woman is proud of it

— Ayesha Khan (@ash1_khan) March 6, 2021

Many Pakistanis pointed out that this tweet of his might have damaged the Pakistan-China relationship.

This is an awful statement.
But If Chinese goes on like these Islamophobic statements than Pak-China relation will not end on good terms…
But we must realise that stupid people like him are there who want to create misunderstandings.
Better to reports him to Chinese government

— کھوجی (@Gladiiattor) March 7, 2021

Some even asked him to respect the Pakistani culture.

Mr. @zhang_heqing hijab is very much part of our islamic values , ridiculing while holding a key position in Pakistan is shocking. We condemn it & demaning u to delete this tweet. Hope u will respect our vslues.@AnsarAAbbasi @TalatHussain12 @MoulanaOfficial

— Muhammad Ayaz Raja (@ayaz786raja) March 7, 2021

Many Pakistanis also urged fellow Pakistanis to report Heqing’s tweet.

Report this tweet…

— Andleeb Ali (@andlibAli6) March 7, 2021

Some Pakistanis urged the authorities to take action against the Chinese national residing in Pakistan and insulting Islam.

This is a chinese official based in pakistan talking against a subject which is an integral part of the islamic religion.I hope the @ForeignOfficePk takes strict action against him. https://t.co/noodUf37t3

— Tariq Yahya (@tariqyahya) March 7, 2021

Heqing has time and again indulged in amplifying anti-India fake and misleading news, most recently during the Ladakh standoff in June 2020.