COLOMBO: A Sinhalese-Buddhist radical organisation in Sri Lanka has asked the police to ban the Islamic niqab even as the country’s cabinet decided to ban “hate speech” which creates communal tension.

The convener of the “Sinhala Ravaya”, Magal­kande Sudaththa, alleged here that men wearing niq­abs or burqas, as he put it, had robbed banks and therefore these attires should be banned.

He was reacting to the ban imposed on full-face helmets used by motorcyclists on security grounds. Men wearing such helmets had recently robbed banks and indulged in other crimes.

“A man dressed in a burqa attempted to rob a bank in Katugasthota and a drug lord was evading the police for years under this attire.

What is the technique that is deployed by the police to identify a criminal hiding under this attire?” Sudat­htha asked.

He said that the niqab be banned as it was a “grave threat to national security”.

Published in Dawn, April 5th, 2015

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