French President Nicolas Sarkozy intention to rid France of facial coverings worn by Muslim women was realized on Tuesday when the French Senate voted to outlaw all such veils in public spaces. The vote is regarded as eliminating a threat to France’s secular values and another step towards integrating Europe’s largest Muslim population.
Source: frontpagemag.com, September 17, 2010
Hesse, a state run by Chancellor Angela Merkel’s Christian Democrats, on Wednesday became the first German region to ban Muslim face veils for public sector workers. Hesse Interior Minister Boris Rhein announced it was “not acceptable as public sector workers are obligated to have neutral religious and political views”. A poll last year showed 61 percent of Germans favoured a burqa ban.
Source: www.blogs.reuters.com, February 3, 2011
Freedom of lifestyle choices is the basic tenet of democracy. The symbolism of the burqa, whether it represents subservience or anything else, is philosophical mulling! If Muslim women want to wear burqas, it is their prerogative and it is as okay as women’s prerogative to wear strapless evening gowns to ball-parties the name of fashion. And in any case, if someone chooses to be subservient, then that is a choice too!
Having said that, let me put forth that I am in favour of banning the burqua for all the right reasons. There is the issue of security. The burqua must be banned because it conceals the identity of the person wearing it. Who knows, who is behind that burqua, a ‘subservient, harmless, god-fearing Muslim woman’ or a ‘cold-blooded, indoctrinated terrorist hiding a bomb’. Hence, covering your body from head to toe is okay, but you must show your face for identification. Also billowing garments must be banned as they can conceal objects of destruction.
Security is an overriding concern for all nations, far more important than any single religious practice. Infact, there must be some common international code for conduct in public places and all nations must implement it, regardless of how many religions this code of conduct offends.
© Sujata Khanna. All rights reserved.
