Pakistan university rebrands Valentine’s Day as ‘Sister’s Day’ to promote Islamic traditions

The University of Agriculture in Faisalabad (UAF) has renamed Valentine’s Day and will be celebrating Feb. 14 as Sister’s Day in an attempt to promote "eastern culture and Islamic traditions among the youth."

The university, located in the central Punjab province, will also distribute headscarves and shawls to its female students to ensure respect for women.

"In our culture, women are more empowered and earn their due respect as sisters, mothers, daughters and wives," said UAF vice chancellor Zafar Iqbal, according to the university’s website.

"We were forgetting our culture, and Western culture was taking root in our society," he continued.

A UAF spokesman, Qamar Bukhari, said that the university was seeking donations to provide headscarves to at least 1,000 of its 14,000 female students, which will be donated by the institute’s administration.