The Sri Lankan cabinet Tuesday cleared a proposal to ban all forms of face veil in public. The decision was taken due to national security concerns.
The proposal was first announced by the Minister of Public Security Sarath Weerasekara in March.
It’ll now be moved to the legal team for drafting and then will be presented in the parliament.
The proposal does not target any religion specifically but the Muslaims feel it is an attack on them and will further spread Islamophobia.
In the Easter Sunday attacks in 2019, 279 people were killed. A series of bombs were detonated in and around churches by Muslim fundamentalists.
Sri Lankan Member of Parliament and leader of the All Ceylon Makkal Party Rishad Bathiudeen was arrested Saturday under the Prevention of Terrorism Act in connection with the 2019 terror attack.
His brother Riyaaz was also arrested.
More than 200 people were arrested immediately after the Easter Sunday attack. But the progress in the investigation has recently slowed.
Sri Lanka’s Roman Catholic Church head Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith has accused the governmnet of going slow after the Muslim extremists.
About 10 percent citizens of Sri Lanka practice Islam.
