Holland bans burqas

[JMT]

Holland bans burqa, Muslims enraged

[ 18 Nov, 2006 2036hrs ISTTIMES NEWS NETWORK ]

LONDON: The Netherlands is to become the first European county to legally ban the burqa even as Muslims across the continent condemned the new hardening of attitude towards religious minorities.

Holland's centre-right coalition government, which is up for re-election in national polls on Wednesday, controversially said legislation would be put in place ‘as soon as possible’ to ban the head-to-toe garment known as the burqa , as well as all other clothing that covers the entire face in public places.



The announcement comes exactly nine months after the Dutch parliament voted by a thunderous majority to ban the burqa outright. The vote signalled that Dutch parliamentarians appeared overwhelmingly to agree with the notorious implications of the Netherlands becoming the first European country to ban the Muslim veil.

European commentators say the Dutch burqa ban is bound to be seen as a disconcerting first-mover gesture for the continent's 15 million Muslims, who are spread across France, the UK, Germany, Belgium, Austria, Italy, Spain, Sweden and Denmark.

Late on Friday, the Netherlands' immigration minister Rita Verdonk, often called 'Iron Rita' for her tough approach to issues of race and immigration, said in a statement that her cabinet "finds it undesirable that face-covering clothing - including the burqa - is worn in public places for reasons of public order, security and protection of citizens".

She added, "From a security standpoint, people should always be recognizable and from the standpoint of integration, we think people should be able to communicate with one another".

Speaking to TOI on a hard day out campaigning up and down the Dutch countryside, aides to Jeert Wilders, the right-wing Freedom Party who originally proposed the burqa ban, expressed delight the veil would finally be outlawed.

M.Bosma of the campaign team around Wilders, whose proposed burqa ban was passed by majority motion of 150-members of the Dutch parliament in January, said, "the burqa legislation does come up during campaigning. People are very appreciative".

The Dutch government's announcement is seen to signal a crucial change in the famous tolerance traditionally espoused by one of Europe's most welcoming nations for immigrants and asylum seekers. Commentators said the Dutch burqa ban flies the flag for a general European hardening of attitudes toward Muslim minorities.

The country-wide ban on the burqa is very distinct from the two-year-old criminalization of the veil by the provincial Belgian city of Maaseik, which levied a 125-euro fine on women who draped themselves from head to foot in the garment. The Dutch national ban is also expected to supersede the move by one of its major cities, Utrecht, which cut unemployment benefits for burqa -wearing Muslim women on the grounds that the veil prevented employers from hiring them.

On Saturday, in a gathering row, the Netherlands' main Muslim organization, CMO, criticized the ban, dubbing it "an overreaction to a very marginal problem".

The CMO's Ayhan Tonca said, "It's just ridiculous" because hardly any Dutch women wear burqas anyway and "this is a big law for a small problem".

Unconfirmed estimates suggest that just a little over two-dozen women from amongst Holland's six-million strong Muslim population wear the burqa . Tonca said the new law could be unconstitutional if it is interpreted as targeting Muslims.

The Dutch government's move finally to ban the burqa four days before hard-fought national elections has been dismissed by opposition politicians as a dangerously divisive political move to win votes through "Islam-bashing".

Amsterdam's mayor, Job Cohen, of the opposition Labour party, said he would like to see burqas disappear but a ban may not be the answer. Cohen said, "From a viewpoint of integration and communication, naturally it's very bad. You can't speak with each other if you can't see each other, so in that sense, I'd say myself the less (it's worn), the better."

Holland's toughening stance on the burqa is seen to resonate throughout a continent that is tearing itself to pieces over the right approach towards its Muslim minority. Last month, former British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw set off a row after he called for UK Muslim women to abandon the full veil, a view that was subsequently endorsed by Prime Minister Tony Blair.

Germany, which also boasts a large Muslim minority, already has a law banning teachers in state schools from wearing head scarves, but has so far shied away from an outright burqa ban.

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[V. Barbarino]

I love it!

[pod]

This will end well.

[saintjohn]

"Muslims enraged"? That's not news.

[coach]

I think they should just ban clothes altogether. The only way to be fair.

[saintjohn]

Many Muslims demand tolerance, but few practice it.