Pakistan's president has denounced St Valentine's Day, saying the festival has no connection with Pakistani culture and should be avoided. His remarks came after a district in north-western Pakistan banned Valentine's Day celebrations.
近日,巴基斯坦总统公开抨击情人节,称这一节日和巴基斯坦文化毫无关系,应该被禁止。他的这一言论是在巴基斯坦西北部某地区禁止情人节后发出的。
Valentine's Day is popular in many cities in Pakistan, but religious groups have denounced it as decadent.
在巴基斯坦的很多城市,情人节很盛行,但是一些宗教团体则称,这是一种衰败的现象。
Earlier this week, the local government in Kohat, in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, told police officers to stop shops from selling Valentine's Day cards and items. Kohat district is run by a religious political party and borders Pakistan's conservative tribal areas.
在本周的早些时候,开伯尔·普赫图赫瓦省的科哈特地区的当地政府,要求警察禁止商店出售情人节卡片和相关物品。科哈特地区是由宗教政治党派领导的,该地区与巴基斯坦保守部落地区接壤。
Meanwhile, the Peshawar local council also passed a resolution to ban celebrations of what it called a "useless" day.
与此同时,白沙瓦地方议会也通过一项决议,禁止庆祝这所谓的“毫无用处”的一天。
Kohat district administrator Maulana Niaz Muhammad told the BBC Urdu: "Valentine's Day has no legal grounds, and secondly it is against our religion, therefore it was banned." While giving cards and flowers was not in itself a bad thing, linking this to a specific day was not appropriate, Mr Muhammad said. He added that he felt such practices could encourage obscene behavior.
科哈特地区的行政官毛拉纳·尼亚兹·穆罕默德告诉BBC乌尔都频道:首先,情人节不合法,其次,它和我们的宗教相违背,因此被禁止了。” 穆罕默德表示,尽管赠送卡片和鲜花本身是件好事,但把它和特定的节日相联系就不合适了。随后他还补充道,他认为这些行为会鼓励人们做出下流的作为。
In past years, conservative social groups, who view the day as a festival of immorality detrimental to traditional marriage, have declared the day to be "shameless".
在过去几年里,保守社会团体一直将这一节日视作对传统婚姻的道德损害,他们宣称这个节日是“无耻的”。
In neighbouring India, Valentine's Day also garners opposition, usually from Hindu conservatives who say it is alien to Indian culture and - as argued by Pakistani Muslims - contrary to traditions such as arranged marriages.
在邻国印度,情人节也备受反对,印度教保守派常说该节日是“外来物”,就好像巴基斯坦穆斯林说它有反包办婚姻的传统一样。