PARIS, Jan 30: French deputy — and former education minister — Jack Lang stated on Thursday that France needs a new law that would forbid the wearing of the Islamic scarf in French schools. As matters now stand, decisions about this are taken on a local basis, with Muslim students usually being allowed to wear their scarfs.

Although Mr Lang didn’t say precisely whether it would be he who would be introducing such a law in the French National Assembly, he let it be understood that he was ready to do so, if such a measure would receive strong bipartisan support. He did note that “what we need is a law that would be the fruit of the common accord of all of France’s political parties, for we shouldn’t turn such issues into a political war.”