COLOMBO– Sri Lanka is seeking to place a ban on burqas and shut down more than a thousand Islamic schools, according to a government minister.
Addressing a news conference the Minister for public security Sarath Weerasekera said that he had signed a paper on Friday for cabinet approval to ban the full face covering worn by some Muslim women on “national security” grounds.
“In our early days Muslim women and girls never wore the burqa,” he said. “It is a sign of religious extremism that came about recently. We are definitely going to ban it.”
The wearing of the burqa in the majority-Buddhist nation was temporarily banned in 2019 after the bombing of churches and hotels that killed more than 250.
Later that year, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, best known for crushing a decades-long insurgency in the north of the country as defence secretary, was elected president after promising a crackdown on extremism.
Weerasekera also said the government plans to ban more than a thousand madressahs that he said were flouting national education policy. “Nobody can open a school and teach whatever you want to the children,” he said.
The government’s moves on burqas and schools follow an order last year mandating the cremation of COVID-19 victims against the wishes of Muslims, who bury their dead. This ban was lifted earlier this year after criticism from the United States and international rights groups and upon intervention by Prime Minister Imran Khan.
SOURCE: AGENCIES
