Sri Lanka is all set to ban burqa and other head covering veils. The Island nation is also thinking to suspend political parties formed based on ethical and religious basis. The move is aimed at fight the radical Islamic terrorism in the country.
A parliamentary committee of Sri Lanka on national security has given its proposal for this to government. The proposal comes after one year of Easter Sunday terror attack that killed over 250 people. The report was tabled by MP Malith Jayatilaka, the Chairman of the Sectoral Oversight Committee on National Security.
The report proposes to give the police powers to ask anyone with face covering to take off such clothing to establish the identity of the person. If such a request was not complied with, the police should have the power to arrest the individual without a warrant, the report added.
The report recommended the Election Commission to enact legislation to suspend the registration of political parties on an ethnic and religious basis. The committee recommended that if a political party has “some racial or religious conflict” then it be converted to non-religious party within a stipulated period.
Another proposal in the report said that all students studying in madrasas should be absorbed into the normal school system under the Ministry of Education within three years.
Sri Lanka has a total Muslim population of around 2 million. Muslims form around 10% of total population of 21 million.
After the Easter Sunday bombings that took place in April 2019 , the then President Maithripala Sirisena had evoked emergency powers to ban all forms of face-covering garments stating it “hinders identification”.
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