Burkini issue

TORONTO: It was an appalling scene to watch a civilised country like France, which claims to uphold freedom of choice, taking away the right of a woman to wear modest religious attire. The police in Nice ordered the woman to publicly remove her burkini as part of a new controversial ban, which was thankfully later declared illegal by a French court. However, given the reactions of some of France’s leaders, it remains to be seen whether the court’s orders will be heeded or not.

If a society allows this infringement of human rights to happen to an innocent person, it should be concerned about its future. In abandoning one of its own, it is condemning itself because an attack on one citizen’s liberty is effectively an attack on all citizens’ freedom of choice. It is also effectively an attack on democracy as a whole.

The woman cited in the above mentioned incident did not pose any threat nor was her simple attire a threat to national security. Why would a powerful country like France, with all its weaponry, feel threatened by a simple and harmless piece of garment? Is it so fragile that it feels shaken to the core by a Muslim woman and her modest clothing? It is frightening to see what bigotry and racism can do to the human intellect. They affect human judgment and perception as it can influence the authorities of a democratic nation to act undemocratically without feeling shameful about it.

The respect people around the world have had towards France will soon be shattered for treating helpless women unfairly as if they were criminals. While I strongly reject and condemn those extremists around the world who claim to know what is best for women and what they should wear, France seems to be following in the same footsteps as the extremists whom it claims to abhor.

Abubakar N Kasim

Published in The Express Tribune, August 29^th, 2016.

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