The Shiv Sena on Wednesday called for a ban on the use of burqa by women of a particular community as it threw its weight behind a similar plan being mulled by the Sri Lankan government in the wake of the Easter terror strikes which claimed over 250 lives.
“This restriction has been recommended as an emergencymeasure to ensure the security forces do not encounter difficulties inidentifying anybody. People wearing face-masks or burqas could pose a threat tonational security,” said the Sena in an editorial in the partymouthpieces, “Saamana” and “Dopahar Ka Saamana”.
The Daily Mirror had quoted sources on Tuesday saying theSri Lankan government was planning to implement the move in consultation withthe mosque authorities and that several Ministers had spoken to PresidentMaithripala Sirisena on the matter.
It had been pointed out that ‘burqa’ and ‘niqab’ were neverpart of the traditional attire of Muslim women in Sri Lanka until the Gulf warin the early 1990s “which saw extremist elements introducing the garb toMuslim women”, the daily said.
A number of female accomplices of the suicide bombers inDematagoda, a Colombo neighbourhood, where three policemen were killed, too hadescaped wearing burqas, reports had said.