HIGHLIGHTS :
Muslim women in sri lanka will not be allowed to wear any form of face veils in public from today under new regulation.
The new regulation banning any form of face covering was announced by the president on sunday.
" The ban is to ensure national security no one should obscure their faces to make identification difficult," Sirisena's office said in a statement.
Sri Lanka issued the ban as part of emergency measures enacted in the wake of the Easter Sunday suicide attacks. There are fears the step could fan tensions between religious groups in the Buddhist-majority country.
Women in Sri Lanka will no longer be able to cover their faces under new emergency regulations that came into force on Monday.
Authorities say the ban on all types of face coverings will help police easily identify people as they race to find suspects linked to a series of suicide attacks that killed more than 250 people on Easter Sunday.
"It is a presidential order to ban any dress covering faces with immediate effect," Dharmasri Bandara Ekanayake, a spokesman for President Maithripala Sirisena, told the Reuters news agency.
Dozens of people have been arrested over alleged links to the bombings, which targeted churches and luxury hotels. But local officials warn that there are still militants at large who could be planning another wave of attacks.
Emergency ban :
More than a week after the bombings, the island nation of 21 millions remains on edge and under tight security. Thousands of soldiers have been deployed across the country to carry out searches and guard religious buildings, state offices and public places. Nighttime curfews are still in place in some areas.
The new face-veil ban does not refer specifically to Muslim female garb; it applies mainly to clothing such as niqabs and burqas.
Muslims make up about 9.7% of Sri Lanka's majority Buddhist population. Only a small number of Muslim women there fully hide their faces.
No comments:
Post a Comment