Ban the Burqa : some observations

Submitted by Jaisingh Thakur (India), Aug 5, 2007 at 09:35

I endorse the views expressed by Dr.Daniel Pipes that in the context prevailing today, the niqab, the hijab or the jilbab, has variously come to signify several things to several people, firstly to muslims themselves. While islam enjoins its followers to dress modestly, it is mainly the mullahs who have come to define how this modesty should be interpreted - while overtly saying that it merely denotes the desire of their womenfolk to remain inconspicuous, they tend to forget that the fabric worn by them to cover themselves from top to toe makes them all the more conspicuous and, at times, stick out like a sore thumb.

To any sane observer of the social scene in Western Europe, it signifies the intense desire of the muslim 'ummah' never to integrate itself with local customs, traditions, practices and the peoples, but always to retain their separate identity and align themselves with the cultural practices of the medieval Middle East. As Dr. Pipes has rightly pointed out, one can never be sure as to what terrors lie in wait for the non-muslims beneath that sinister garment. Personally, the way any woman chooses to dress-or undress- herself should not be discussed in the public domain.

However, when, as we find everywhere around us, a particular fabric starts providing legitimacy to exaggerated claims by certain sections of the community and misleads them into making more and more extravagant, and separatist demands, then it is time for all concerned to sit up and take notice. This is precisely what those nations, who have acted against this practice have done and this is precisely what Dr.Pipes is trying to educate us all about.

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