The issue of terrorism in India has been spreading rampantly and we ‘the commoners’ so to say have been facing the brunt of the aftereffects of their wretchedness. Recently, the Mumbai police have arrested two actors wearing burqa from the sets of Hrithik Roshan’s untitled movie suspecting them to be terrorist. This issue transpired due to the ongoing terrorism attacked in various countries, recent to be Sri-Lanka where eight suicide bombers wearing the veil and claiming links to Islamic State blew themselves up on Easter eve. The incident killed nearly 250 people and left many others injured including children.
The dire incident led to the government deciding to ban the veil in public places since it “hinders identification” and might disrupt the security of a nation. “The government is studying the legislation of countries such as France and Belgium that have banned the face veil, and are looking at bringing in regular legislation banning it,” Sugeewara Senadhira the media secretary to the president told The Telegraph.
A niqab and burqa are worn by Muslim women for both cultural and religious reasons. But, should one be obligatory to display it? “The Koran does not explicitly say you have to cover yourself in this manner,” says Dr. Ismail a lecturer in Middle East Politics and Islamic Studies at Australian National University.
‘I was frightened and nervous at the same time. I wasn’t able to concentrate on the ongoing movie Godzilla running on the screen because my attention drew to someone who wore a veil (burqa) and sat right next to me. The person, unable to recognize whether its a man or a woman started crying for some reason. Out of panic, I took the person identified to be a suicide bomber and throughout the entire movie I was planning for an escape. Later, when the movie ended I took a deep breathe thinking I was safe” says a source from Bangalore
There has been an ongoing battle of fear amongst the Non-Islamist with a mindset “all Muslims wearing a veil is a terrorist”. There is a post-trauma penetrating into the minds of people because of the dozen terrorist attacks by the Islamic terrorist groups. The way fear is lurking out of the veil (burqa), will it put an end to the burqa system?
It is to be kept in mind that nations safety comes before religious practices. Let’s leave it in capable hands of the government officials to come up with a solution that keeps communal harmony intact.
