Taslima Nasreen Calls 'Burqa Ban' A Good Decision After Sri Lanka Bans All Kinds Of Face Coverings
The Sri Lankan government issued a decree to ban &lsquoburqas&rsquo and other face coverings in public. The ban effective from Monday April 29 2019 comes after the attacks on Easter Sunday that killed over 300 people and injured 500. President Maithripala Sirisena said he was using an emergency law to impose the restriction. Author Taslima Nasreen took to Twitter to show her support for the decision.
The Sri Lankan government issued a decree to ban ¡®burqas¡¯ and other face coverings in public. The ban effective from Monday (April 29, 2019), comes after the attacks on Easter Sunday that killed over 300 people and injured 500.
President Maithripala Sirisena said he was using an emergency law to impose the restriction. A series of blasts ripped through eight locations of the island country. The attacks were carried out by the Islamic State. In response, the Sri Lankan government banned burqas.
While many muslim leaders criticised the move, author Taslima Nasreen took to Twitter to show her support for the decision. Nasreen is a Bangladeshi-Swedish writer who has been living in exile since 1994. She termed burqa as a ¡®mobile prison¡¯.
Sri Lanka banned burqas for 'public protection' after bomb attacks. Good decision. It will help women feel like human beings. They deserve to have the right to not live in a mobile prison.
¡ª taslima nasreen (@taslimanasreen) April 29, 2019
Nasreen has always been vocal about women¡¯s rights and women empowerment movement in Bangladesh and has also characterised Islam as a ¡®misogynistic¡¯ religion. She has even faced backlash from Islamic right-wingers in Bangladesh.
In an earlier interview, Nasreen had mentioned her stance on burqas in general, "If you're truly secular, encourage Muslim women not to wear burqa and introduce a universal civil code."
But people on social media were divided on her opinion.
1.
Those women who will feel like human beings without it always had a choice to leave Islam, there was never any Compulsion in ISLAM.
¡ª UsAmA NeGaTivE (@Usama_Forever) April 30, 2019
Everything described is fixed,unchanged.
Either agree or disagree, Allah gave free will to choose.
2.
Isn't it suppression on minority living here if they want to wear this? Isn't it obstacle to the rights of minority's following?
¡ª Zafar Faruki? (@AbuZaformohamm3) April 29, 2019
3.
Not everyone considers it as ¡°mobile prison¡± . Some wear it by choice. Surprised that u think otherwise
¡ª angelism (@ANGELISMTWEET) April 29, 2019
4.
Illusion of choice
¡ª Jacqueline Paul (@Villa_Day) April 29, 2019
5.
Banning Burqa wont serve any purpose. Maybe some short term benifit but will only erk the extremists more... Also should'nt wearing burqa be a personal choice ?
¡ª RaghavendraDevisetty (@tommybabu) April 29, 2019
6.
Burqas are not the cause of terrorism & banning it only hurts the sentiments & freedom to wear clothing of ones choice. What kind of writers & intellectuals we have ?
¡ª Adv AV Sivasankaran. (@AvSivasankaran) April 30, 2019
7.
Your not in a position to say what women should we¡¯re just like u were your clothes and advertise it, they have the right to choose what they wears. Majority of these women wants to cover up for there own personal reason.
¡ª shafiul khan (@shafiulkhan8) April 30, 2019
While this debate is not new, Nasreen's comment certainly seems to have added fuel to the fire.
