Sri Lanka Cabinet approves proposal to ban face coverings in public places
Colombo, Apr 28: Sri Lanka's Cabinet on Tuesday approved a controversial proposal to ban all forms of face coverings in public places, citing a threat to national security.
The move came weeks after Minister of Public Security Sarath Weerasekara signed a note in March, seeking the approval of the Cabinet to ban burqas -- outer garments that cover the body and face worn by some Muslim women.
The Cabinet has decided to ban all forms of face coverings in public places, Cabinet spokesperson and information minister Keheliya Rambukwella told reporters here, without specifying burqas.
He said the decision was taken two years after a wave of coordinated terror attacks on hotels and churches on Easter Sunday.
All forms of face covers are a threat to national security, he said.
However, wearing face masks to combat COVID-19 is allowed.
The covering of the full face will automatically include burqa and niqab.
The proposal now must be approved by Parliament to become a law.
Last month, Pakistan's High Commissioner to Sri Lanka Ambassador Saad Khattak had criticised the proposal to ban the wearing of burqas in the country, saying such "divisive steps" in the name of security will not only hurt the sentiments of Muslims but also strengthen wider apprehensions about the fundamental human rights of minorities in the island nation.
Meanwhile, Weerasekera in a Facebook post wrote that the Cabinet has approved the proposal to ban all face coverings, including the burqa.
"I requested approval to draft a law for the covering of full-face adhering to the quarantine law which means there will be no prohibition to wear face masks to prevent the COVID-19 virus," he was quoted as saying by the Daily Mirror news website.
The Buddhist-majority nation in 2019 had temporarily banned wearing of burqas under emergency regulations following the Easter Sunday attacks in which nine suicide bombers belonging to the local Islamist extremist group National Thawheed Jamaat (NTJ) carried out a series of blasts that tore through three churches and as many luxury hotels, killing 270 people, including 11 Indians, and injuring over 500.
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. Ethnic minority Tamils, who are mainly Hindus, comprise about 12 per cent, while Christians account for over 7 per cent of the population.
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Karnataka village switches off TVs, mobiles for two hours daily to help students study
Belagavi: Every evening at 7 pm, a siren rings out in Halaga, a village near Belagavi, signalling residents to switch off all screens including televisions, mobile phones, laptops and tablets for the next two hours.
The community has voluntarily adopted this “digital-free time” to help students focus on studies and to encourage families to spend more time talking to each other. The 'digital detox' initiative, 'No TV, no mobile, just study and conversation', is said to be the first such to be adopted by a Karnataka village, Deccan Herald reported on Monday.
According to the report, Halaga, which has a population of about 12,000 and is located close to the Suvarna Vidhana Soudha, launched the initiative on December 17. A siren installed at the gram panchayat office marks the start of the no-screen period at 7 pm, and another siren at 9 pm signals its end.
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Gram panchayat authorities are reaching out to those residents who are yet to comply and are urging them to stay away from screen during the two hours.
Authorities are also visiting households that have not fully adopted the practice and are encouraging parents to follow the routine strictly. Teachers and panchayat members plan to continue meeting families to ensure more participation.
The Halaga village exercise is said to be inspired by a similar experiment in Agran Dhulgaon near Sangli in Maharashtra which had a positive response on students' learning habits.
