COLOMBO – Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena on Monday announced a ban on any form of face covering in public, a week after Islamist militants carried out coordinated suicide bombings at churches and hotels that killed more than 250 people.
The President office, in a statement, said that the restriction which takes effect today has been imposed to ensure national security.
“The ban is to ensure national security… No one should obscure their faces to make identification difficult,” the statement read.
Any face garment which “hinders identification” will be banned to ensure national security, it added.
The niqab and burqa – worn by Muslim women – were not specifically named.
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Sri Lanka remains on high alert eight days after terrorist attacks that hit churches and hotels. Dozens of suspects have been arrested, but local officials warned that more militants remained at large.
Sri Lanka has a sizeable and centuries-old Muslim population – out of 21 million, just under 10 percent are Muslim. Most practise a liberal form of the religion and only a small number of women wear the niqab.
