A burqa clad Sri Lankan Muslim woman walks in a street of Colombo, Sri Lanka yesterday. Photo / APSri Lanka on Saturday announced plans to ban the wearing of burqas and said it would close more than 1,000 Islamic schools known as madrassas, citing national security. "The burqa has a direct impact on national security," Weerasekara told a ceremony at a Buddhist temple on Saturday, without elaborating. The decision to ban burqas and madrassas is the latest move affecting the Indian Ocean island nation's minority Muslims. Muslims make up about 9 per cent of the 22 million people in Sri Lanka, where Buddhists account for more than 70 per cent of the population.

Source: New Zealand Herald March 13, 2021 23:15 UTC