Azerbaijan will punish parents who defy a ban on girls wearing the Islamic hijab in schools in the mainly Muslim but officially secular state, the education ministry said on Wednesday. "We will take action against those parents who don't let their children attend classes because of the ban on wearing the hijab," education ministry spokeswoman Zamina Aligyzy told AFP. The Muslim headscarf is prohibited under rules that define what uniforms pupils must wear in ex-Soviet Azerbaijan.