Sri Lanka burqa ban

Last week, we saw Switzerland become the eighth European country to ban veil at public places. And now Sri Lanka is planning to join the list of nations that regulate how Muslim women dress. Recent reports quote the Sri Lankan public security minister as saying that the government plans to ban the burqa on “national security” grounds. His logic is that Sri Lankan Muslims did not wear burqas in the past and that the garment’s growing popularity is “a sign of religious extremism that came about recently”.

Sri Lanka had also banned the burqa before — after Islamist militant attacks on churches and hotels in 2019 killed over 250 people. But that ban, because of its context, still had the support of local Islamic leaders. At that time, the All Ceylon Jamiyyathul Ulama, the country’s top body of Islamic scholars, said they supported a short-term ban on security grounds and urged women to cooperate. At the same time, they also noted that they opposed a permanent ban.

So far, reports do not suggest that the government plans any action against niqabs, face veils, or headscarves, so most alternative forms of conservative dressing remain legal. However, banning any specific garment can still come across as an attack on women’s right to choose how to dress. Less than 10% of Sri Lanka’s population is Muslim. The number of women who wear the burqa is even smaller, so the ban is clearly discriminatory, as it targets a tiny population group. That is why it is imperative for the Sri Lankan government to rethink this move.

Meanwhile, the government also plans to close over 1,000 unregistered madrassas, which reportedly do not follow the national education policy. The two sides must work with each other to find a middle ground. After all a large number of innocent students would be badly affected if the plan goes through. Also, given the controversy that embroiled the country over its now-repealed ban on Muslim burials, we have to wonder whether the timing of this announcement is a coincidence or something more sinister.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 16^th, 2021.

Like Opinion & Editorial on Facebook, follow @ETOpEd on Twitter to receive all updates on all our daily pieces.