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Sri Lanka bans face covering after attacks
COLOMBO, April 29, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Sri Lankan President Maithripala
Sirisena on Sunday announced a ban on face covering, a week after Islamist
militants carried out coordinated suicide bombings that killed 253 people.
Sirisena said he was using emergency powers to ban any form of face
covering in public. The restriction will take effect from Monday, his office
said in a statement.
“The ban is to ensure national security… No one should obscure their
faces to make identification difficult,” the statement said.
It came days after local Islamic clerics urged Muslim women not to cover
their faces amid fears of a backlash after the bombings carried out by
jihadists affiliated to the Islamic State group.
Muslims in the majority Buddhist nation account for about 10 percent of
its 21 million population.
Most Sri Lankan Muslims practise a liberal form of the religion and only a
small number of women wear the niqab.
BSS/AFP/FI/ 1444 hrs