FEATURE: Sri Lanka’s burqa ban seen as part of ‘racist agenda’

Sri Lanka plans to prohibit the wearing of burqas and has signalled the closure of over 1,000 Islamic madrassas.

CAPE TOWN, March 19 (ANA) – Sri Lanka has announced plans to prohibit the wearing of burqas and close over 1,000 Islamic madrassas, citing national security concerns, but critics say the moves are part of a racist agenda.

Public Security Minister Sarath Weerasekara said last week he had signed a request for cabinet approval to ban burqas, arguing that the garments which cover the face had a direct impact on national security and noting that “in our early days, we had many Muslim friends, but Muslim women and girls never wore the burqa”, The Guardian newspaper reported.

“It is a sign of religious extremism that came about recently. We will definitely ban it.” the paper quoted Weerasekara as saying at a Buddhist temple last Saturday.

The minister said the government would also ban over 1,000 madrassas (Islamic schools), which were not registered with the authorities and did not follow the national education policy.

“Nobody can open a school and teach whatever you want to the children,” he said, according to news channel Al Jazeera.

Human rights groups say the moves come at a time the Muslim community is being constantly targeted.

“It’s part of the Islamophobic reaction in Sri Lanka”, Shreen Saroor, a Sri Lankan peace and women’s rights activist, told Al Jazeera.

“The compulsory cremation policy was revised, and now we hear so many other measures to some form of punishing the Muslim community,” she said.

International outrage has prompted the Sri Lankan government to announce that more time will be taken to finalise the decision.

“It will be implemented with a consensus and consultations with Muslim organisations and leaders. We won’t rush through the proposal since it is a serious issue,” government spokesperson Keheliya Rambukwella said on Tuesday.

The burqa was previously temporarily banned in the majority-Buddhist nation in 2019, following the bombings of churches and hotels in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday which killed more than 260 people.

The attacks on two Roman Catholic churches, one Protestant church and three top hotels were blamed on two local Muslim groups that had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State.

On Saturday, the government also declared that it would use an anti-terror law to fight religious extremism and granted itself broad authority to detain offenders for up to two years for “deradicalisation.”

In a Twitter post, Pakistani Ambassador Saad Khattak said a ban would “only serve as injury to the feelings of ordinary Sri Lankan Muslims and Muslims across the globe”.

In South Africa, Muslim organisations have called for intervention, with the United Ulama Council of South Africa (UUCSA) making a request to International Relations and Cooperation Minister Naledi Pandor, the Indian Express.

“The UUCSA will once again appeal to the Department of International Relations and Co-operation to engage with its counterparts to stop state-sanctioned Islamophobia,” its secretary-general Yusuf Patel said.

The ban on the burqa and the closure of schools were meant to appease Sri Lanka’s Buddhist majority which thrived on entrenching sectarian and religious divides through hate propaganda, Patel contended.

Sri Lanka appears to be taking its cue from Western countries such as Switzerland, Belgium, France, and Austria on banning female citizens from wearing the burqa or niqab in public.

Switzerland banned the clothing item earlier this month after over 51 percent of voters approved a proposal to make it illegal to cover one’s face entirely on the highway, in stores, or restaurants.

Muslim groups in Switzerland criticised the move.

“What is aimed here is to stigmatise and marginalise Muslims even more,” woman’s rights activist Ines Al Shikh said.

Face coverings worn for health and safety purposes are excluded from the ban.

Muslims make up about nine percent of Sri Lanka’s 22 million inhabitants while Buddhists account for more than 70 percent of the population.

– African News Agency (ANA), Editing by Stella Mapenzauswa