Stress on Sania's feats, not dress: Muslim women board

Lucknow: Reacting to the reported fatwa by some Muslim clerics on Sania Mirza's on-court attire, the All-India Muslim Women's Personal Law Board on Thursday said the emphasis should be on the tennis sensation's achievements and not her dress.

It, however, flayed the display of inappropriate attire on fashion runways and was not in favour of modelling as a career for women.

"As advocates and doctors follow their own dress code, Sania Mirza, being a sportperson, is following the dress code meant for her," AIMWPLB president Shaista Amber said in Lucknow on Thursday.

Sania had earned a name for the country at the global level and "emphasis should, therefore, be on her achievements and not on her on-court dress," she said.

Amber said the tennis ace had not dressing in a similar fashion in her personal life, "proving that what she is wearing while playing is as per the needs and requirements of the sport".

The AIMWPLB president was, however, critical of skimpily -clad women participating in fashion shows and taking up modelling as a career. "It is unislamic. There is no need for them to dress up like this yet they do it... This is wrong," she said.