Minister of Public Security Rear Admiral (Rtd) Sarath Weerasekara says he has signed the Cabinet paper banning the burqa in Sri Lanka.
His remarks came during an event held at Munasinghe Aramaya in Kalutara today (March 13).
Explaining the reason for the move, the Public Security Minister said the burqa directly affects the national security of the country.
“We had a lot of Muslim friends when we were little. But Muslim females did not wear the burqa back then.”
Minister Weerasekara stressed that burqa is a symbol of religious extremism that came to Sri Lanka quite recently. “So, it will definitely be banned.”
Speaking on the regulation of Madrasas, he said there are more than 2,000 such schools in the country.
Minister Weerasekara said: “No one can arbitrarily open a school and teach the students whatever they want. All children aged from 5 – 16 years must study under a national education policy. We will take measures to ban more than 1,000 Madrasas which have not been registered under a national education framework.”
