Sri Lanka to ban burqa, shut many Islamic schools: Minister

KEY STORY

• Sri Lanka will ban the wearing of the burqa and shut more than a thousand Islamic schools, a government minister said on Saturday, the latest actions affecting the country’s minority Muslim population.

• Minister for public security Sarath Weerasekera told a news conference he had signed a paper on Friday for cabinet approval to ban the full face covering worn by some Muslim women on “national security” grounds.

• “In our early days Muslim women and girls never wore the burqa,” he said. “It is a sign of religious extremism that came about recently. We are definitely going to ban it.”

• The wearing of the burqa in the majority-Buddhist nation was temporarily banned in 2019 after the bombing of churches and hotels by Islamic militants that killed more than 250.

• Later that year, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, best known for crushing a decades-long insurgency in the north of the country as defence secretary, was elected president after promising a crackdown on extremism.

• Rajapaksa is accused of widespread rights abuses during the war, charges he denies.

• Weerasekera said the government plans to ban more than a thousand madrassa Islamic schools that he said were flouting national education policy.

• “Nobody can open a school and teach whatever you want to the children,” he said.

• The government’s moves on burqas and schools follow an order last year mandating the cremation of COVID-19 victims – against the wishes of Muslims, who bury their dead.

• This ban was lifted earlier this year after criticism from the United States and international rights groups.