Sri Lanka: towards banning the burqa in public, for safety reasons

(ANSA) - COLOMBO, MAR 14 - Sri Lanka has taken a significant step towards banning the burka and other face coverings in public, for reasons of national security: the Minister of Public Security Sarath Weerasekara has in fact signed a government order that now it needs parliamentary approval.

The BBC reports it.

    Two years have passed - it was Easter Sunday in 2019 - since Sri Lanka was the scene of a wave of coordinated terrorist attacks on hotels and churches.

It was a real massacre - over 250 victims - claimed by Isis.

    During the hunt for the terrorists responsible for the attacks, a short-term emergency ban on warning covers was introduced in the country - with a Buddhist majority -.

But now the government has moved to reintroduce it on a permanent basis.

    Minister Weerasekara said the burqa was "a sign of recent religious extremism", adding that it was "affecting national security" and that its permanent ban had to come sooner.

    Weerasekara also reported that the government plans to ban more than 1,000 madrassas, Islamic schools which it believes are in violation of national education policy.

(HANDLE).