Sri Lanka announces burqa ban, to shut 1,000 madrasas

Sri Lanka will soon ban the burqa or face veil, a Cabinet Minister said, as he announced the Rajapaksa administration’s latest policy decision impacting the minority Muslim community.

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The authorities would henceforth use the Prevention of Terrorism (PTA) law — that human rights defenders have termed “draconian” — to deal with religious extremism, with wide-ranging powers to detain suspects for up to two years, to “deradicalize” them.

According to the minister, the burkha affects their national security as it is a symbol of their religious extremism. This dress came into Sri Lanka only recently.

While the Minister had signed documents outlawing the burkha, the move awaits Cabinet approval. Over 1,000 madrasas would be shut.

Following the Islamic State-inspired Easter terror bombings in Sri Lanka in April 2019, attributed to a local Islamist radical network, the government temporarily banned the face veil using emergency laws.