PARIS, Oct 7: French Interior Minister Nicholas Sarkozy said on Tuesday he is against the voting of a law that would ban external manifestations of religious affiliation, and notably the wearing of the Islamic veil.

He was testifying before a special committee of the French senate studying the problem of maintaining the secular nature of French schools.

“But,” he added, “at the same time I’m quite reserved with regard to a new law,” especially those that have already been proposed as being the only way of bringing an end to a problem which looks fated to grow increasingly unwieldy with time”.